Inheritance
by Danny vs A Month
Summary: Demons may not age like humans, but Dante's still getting old for devil hunting. Perhaps it's time to find a new generation to take over. And it seems Dante has just found the perfect one. M for language, violence, gore, and other Devil May Cry things. Anyone who reads this, I need suggestions for who to put the OC with. Not Trish or Kyrie, since they're taken.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

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Ruined First Date

In a small shop tucked away into a filthy back alley in a filthy city, a single man leaned back, feet propped up on his desk and eyes staring up at the ceiling fan, head resting on his folded hands as he watched the fan spin round and round and round, the fan wiggling slightly as it did. It was a slow month. No calls for the last week, and the calls before that had only taken a few hours at most and paid very little. After hours of watching a fan spin, the phone rang and the man kicked the desk, the phone flipping into the air and landing in his hand, the man raising it to his ear.

"Devil May Cry," the man said. "No, we don't accept credit cards. No, no checks either. That's a little on the light side. What's the problem?"

He was silent as he listened to the description. The caller didn't have the password, as the man usually required, but this time he was so bored he didn't care. And besides, he always had his cellphone on him in case something more important came up.

"I see," the man nodded to himself, picking up a knife and throwing it into a target on the wall, this target painted onto a bloody, mounted mantis head the size of a beach ball. "Yeah, seals on the wall in blood does sound pretty bad. About how big? That big huh? Man they really ain't playin' around. Say, how'd you get this number anyway buddy? Really? No kidding. Well, I'm actually a little tied up here at the moment. How about you call back, say, tomorrow if anything changes."

The man suddenly sat up straight, face growing serious as his free hand gripped the arm of the chair.

"They're doing what?" the man asked. "You're sure? Alright. I'm on my way now. What's your address?"

A moment later, he threw himself onto his bike, twisting the throttle and streaking out of the alleyway, taking off down the street.

"What's the rush Dante?" a female voice shouted over the wind and engines as a second bike pulled up beside him, this one's rider wearing a black helmet, tight black leather corset, tight black leather pants, black leather boots, and with a massive sword on her back with red flame designs on the sides and a crescent blade reaching to the bottom of the two-handed grip before stopping.

"Can't talk now Trish," Dante said, expertly zipping through traffic, Rebellion sitting proudly on his back, its decorative skulls eyes seeming to glow every time they caught the light of a car's headlights or a streetlight.

"What's the job?" Trish asked.

"Summoning circle a hundred yards across, already starting to release plasma," Dante responded before swerving between two cars, taking their mirrors off then flipping them both off.

"That's pretty big," Trish said. "Need a hand?"

"Not yet," Dante said. "Keep your phone on you, though. And give Lady, Nero, and Lucia a call. Better to be safe."

"Agreed," Trish said. "See you around Dante."

She took a side road and Dante gave the throttle a sharp twist, the front tire lifting off the ground before setting back down as the bike sped up, streaking through traffic at a frighteningly fast pace. Finally, he squeezed the brake, skidding to a stop outside a black wrought iron gate with spikes on the top and an entire family plus housemaids, cooks, and a gardener standing in front of it, all terrified. One of the housemaids quickly swung the gate open and Dante sped through, skidding to a stop in front of the house then letting his bike fall to the ground as he sprinted inside, drawing Ebony and Ivory.

As soon as he was inside, the door slammed shut and a glowing red barrier formed over it, the shadows in the room all slowly stretching toward a point opposite him. He sighed, raising his pistols just as the shadows rose and formed into a silhouette before solidifying. A moment later, the silhouette changed. It had pale skin, bright orange hair, red irises, black short shorts, a black hoodie, and yet Dante still had no question who they were imitating. Kat. The first person who Dante ever cared about and who had been killed by Vergil. This Succubus just made the worst mistake of their life.

"Hello Dante," the Succubus greeted. "You're very handsome. How would you like to come and stay with me for a bit?"

"I don't know who you think you are, but if any part of your tiny brain thinks taking that form was a good idea, you better think again," Dante snarled before raising his pistols and opening fire.

The first two shots found their marks, punching through the Succubus's shoulders before they exploded into a swarm of bats. The bats flew at Dante, swirling around him, but just as they did, he spun, firing a bullet through each. They all dropped to the ground then melted into shadow again before rising as the Succubus once again. This time, just as she reformed, Dante pressed Ivory to her forehead and pulled the trigger, splattering her brains across the floor, the Succubus falling to the ground. Dante turned, stalking away from the body to the stairs and climbing them, reaching a long hallway leading away from the entrance hall. Dante kicked the first door he reached open and looked inside. Library. Empty. He walked to the next door. Supply room. Massive, but empty. Next door. Bedroom. Enormous, probably not the master suit, and still empty.

He reached the end of the hallway where there was an elevator and a stairwell. He punched the button to summon the elevator and after a moment it dinged open, a demon with the lower body of a spider, the upper body of a female with a webbing strip covering her breasts, and the head of a lizard of some kind leapt out of it at Dante, only for Dante to split it in half with Rebellion then put his sword away in time to catch Ebony. He stepped into the elevator, kicking one of the demon's legs out of the way and closing the door before hitting the button for the roof. The elevator rose up several floors before dinging to a stop and the doors hissed open. He stepped out of the elevator and stared at the corpse on the roof before him, an elderly man, roughy seventy years old at a guess, and with his eyes wide with fright, mouth open slightly, and a gaping hole where his heart should be. This was the man that had hired Dante.

Dante walked past the corpse and stopped, staring at the massive pool of blood nearly three hundred feet across, covering most of the roof, with a glowing red circle of symbols and Devil Script in the center, a massive sigil shining blindingly in the center of the circle. Dante put his pistols away, drawing Rebellion as the light shone high into the sky, lighting the seal up like a spotlight, the symbol reflected in the clouds above. He crouched, readying himself as blood sprayed skyward, splattering back down in an endless geyser. Then, something began to crawl out of it. At first, it was a hand, black with two fingers and a thumb, each with a claw as long as Dante's forearm, the hand itself the side of his torso and the fingers as long as his arms. Then, massive scaled arms followed the hands, the scales all a dark green, then a torso the size of a full-sized van. Then legs just as massive as the arms, all of which were as long as two of Dante's whole body with his arms extended over his head. The creature's feet were like T-rex feet, but black with claws about half as long as those on its hands. Its head was on the front of its torso, between its shoulders. It was a massive mound of flesh, not even really a head except that it had four small glowing yellow eyes in two diagonal lines on the end of its head with a fifth larger eye in the center, and a gaping maw of a mouth with a pair of gigantic fangs jutting up from its lower jaw, dripping acid. Then, the creature's tail appeared from the geyser of blood, the entire thing shaped like that of an iguana except for the morning star tip.

Blood rained down on the creature for several seconds, flooding down it in rivulets before the geyser finally died down, leaving a gaping hole where the seal had been. From the hole, millions of tiny glowing spiders made out of lava and stone began to flood out and toward Dante, a shrill cry piercing the air as they did.

"Phantom," Dante spat, stabbing his sword into the ground and drawing Ebony and Ivory again, opening fire on the tiny spiders.

Before more than a couple of seconds, the massive creature shot forward, fist pulled back. Dante put Ivory away, grabbing his sword in his right hand and leaping to the side swinging the gun around to the creature and squeezing off a shot, the bullet bouncing off of the creature's scales. Dante growled in annoyance and put the pistol away, glancing at the hole, where steam was starting to rise into the air.

He looked back to the creature as it charged again, slashing at him with its claws. He ducked under it and slashed, carving a small scratch into its leg, the scratch barely a paper cut to it thanks to its massive size. It turned, swinging a kick at him and he rolled out of the way, hearing the building below the creature groaning with the effort of holding him up. Dante leapt into the air then flipped and landed on the creature's hand as it swiped at him. He sprinted up the creature's arm then leapt into the air as the other arm tried to knock him off. This time, he got over its head and when he fell, he brought Rebellion down on top of its head as hard as he could. The creature blasted through the roof instantly, crashing down in the Entrance Hall. Dante crashed down a moment later just as the creature burst out of the rubble, grabbing a chunk of wood and driving it into Dante's chest. Dante coughed a mouthful of blood before the creature turned, crashing out through the facade and destroying it before charging at the family. Dante grabbed Rebellion, slashing the wood above himself before forcing himself up and off of it, then hurled Rebellion into the creature's back. It roared in pain, the sound deafening and shaking the ground. Then, it took off, abandoning the family and crashing through the main gate and the building on the opposite side of the street.

Dante grabbed his bike, hopping on and speeding off after it, riding straight through the debris. It crashed into a mall, plowing people out of the way as it crashed along the bottom level of the store, Dante hot on its heels. After a moment, it blasted out the other side and turned right on that street, charging away, Dante skidding around the corner and speeding after it again. After a couple more seconds, they reached a park, the creature skidding around a left turn then charging straight at a couple sitting beside a lake.

"TRISH! ! !" Dante screamed into his phone. "HELP! ! !"

Then, the creature had reached the couple.

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Marcus smiled as the girl before him laughed. It wasn't often that someone put on so much of a show of actually liking him. Of course, a show was all it was. All it ever was. No one liked him. Not really. He was just "that guy" in college. "That guy" who sat alone in the back of the room, aced every test, could climb the rope in a matter of seconds, and who could get a date with almost any girl he asked simply because he was popular and they wanted to say they dated him. Yeah, immature stuff like that was why he truly despised the human race. But, for the time being, this girl was willing to pretend he was funny, and charming, and anything but the boring, exceedingly average person that he knew his personality portrayed. After all, he worked hard to be that. Sure physically and with his grades he was far above average, even if his build was mostly lean muscle, but he came off as average with his personality. Not too interesting, and not boring or weird enough to stand out.

Suddenly, her laugh turned into a scream as a painfully loud thundering sound began behind them, growing louder as the ground began to tremble. He sighed, turning and looking back as a massive creature bore down on him, a bike a ways away but beginning to catch up.

"You're interrupting," Marcus growled, raising his right hand, his black jacket's sleeve and his glove burning away to reveal an arm from the elbow down with brown almost scale-like spots over a glowing blue arm and hand with short claws. "Back off!"

A massive spectral replica of his hand appeared beside him, catching the creature by its face before smashing it into the ground, his actual arm doing everything the spectral arm did. Then, he raised his hand, the spectral arm rising and both forming a fist. Then, he smashed the massive spectral fist down on the creature's head, splattering it across the ground. The motor bike skidded to a stop a ways away and the man riding it, a man wearing a red trench coat, stepped off, pulling off his helmet.

"Oh Nero!" the man called jogging over. "I didn't even recognize...who are you?"

"Who're you?" Marcus asked.

"The name's Dante, kid," the man bowed. "You've got quite the arm. Only ever seen one more like it. Mind telling me your name?"

"Marcus," Marcus said. "And this arm is a curse."

"That arm is a gift," Dante said. "You have an amazing power. You just killed a class three demon like it was nothing. You could do some serious good with that kind of power. You could be a hero."

"I don't want to be a hero," Marcus snapped. "I don't want this arm, I don't want demons to chase me everywhere I go, I just want to be normal! I'd cut this goddamn thing off if it didn't break anything I cut it with!"

"Marcus, you're not normal," Dante said. "I hate to break this to you, but you're exceedingly abnormal. You can hide your arm, you can hide from demons, but in the end they're still going to find you and they're still going to ruin any sense of normalcy you try to create. So you can either accept that and make that your normal, or you can spend you life running away like a coward."

Marcus narrowed his eyes at Dante before huffing and turning away.

"What would you know about it?" Marcus snarled.

Marcus looked to the girl he had been talking to before but she turned, screaming and sprinting away from him. Marcus sighed.

"Looks like I'm moving schools again," Marcus sighed.

"Or, you can come back to my shop with me, and I can give you a job hunting demons," Dante said. "Do some good, save some lives, make bank having fun."

"Yeah, that'll happen," Marcus snorted, swinging his leg over his black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle and starting it. "Why don't you give me a call when non-demonic pigs fly."

Dante smirked as Marcus sped off. Then, he got back on his own motorcycle just as Trish slowed to a stop beside him, looking at the dead demon.

"Looks like it was a false alarm," Trish said. "The kid okay?"

"Kid's fine," Dante said. "Demon didn't even phase him. Tough little shit. Come on. We're hosting Nero and the others tonight."

"Oh, that's right," Trish said. "Can't be late."

Dante nodded and they left, heading back to Dante's shop where Trish began to clean up Dante's pigsty while Dante ordered pizza.

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	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

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Repeat Offenders

Dante walked to the door and opened it, accepting his pizza and thanking the pizza delivery man, promising to pay off his debt at the end of the month. Then, he walked into the living room, dropping the stack of pizzas on the coffee table and grabbing himself a slice as the others did the same.

"So Nero, I finally met that brat of yours today," Dante said after swallowing his first bit, Nero giving him a confused look. "Funny, you never talk about him. I actually didn't even know he existed."

"Brat?" Nero asked.

"Yeah, your son," Dante said, Nero's pizza slice falling to the ground, Kyrie's doing the same as Lady and Trish began to cough.

"My...son?" Nero blinked. "But that's impossible."

"Well unless there's some other guy's kid running around crushing class threes with a Devil Bringer, I'm pretty sure he's yours," Dante said.

"A...Devil Bringer?" Nero blinked, staring at his own demonic arm before back at Dante, then Kyrie. "But...Dante...our son...that couldn't have been him."

"Why not?" Dante asked, taking another bite.

"He was stillborn," Kyrie said quietly.

Dante began to choke on his pizza before managing to cough it up, dropping it onto his previously unused plate before setting his slice down and staring at them both.

"Stillborn?" Dante blinked. "But then...whose kid killed that demon?"

"The kid killed him?" Trish blinked.

"Yeah," Dante said. "Caught it and squashed its head like a bug. Then he spouted the same nonsense as you did about the arm being a curse and said he just wanted to be normal before driving off on his bike. Pretty nice one too. And he said something about college."

"Which?" Nero asked, standing with Kyrie. "Where is he?"

"I dunno," Dante said thoughtfully. "He never said which. And he said he was going to have to switch anyway, since the girl he was on a date with saw his Devil Bringer."

Nero nodded, turning to leave just as the phone rang. he walked over to it, more out of habit than anything, and picked it up.

"Devil May Cry?" Nero answered. "No, sorry we closed at...I'm sorry, say that again? You're sure? One hundred percent? And he's doing what? Shit. We're on our way." He hung up. "Dante, Berial and some giant lava spider are destroying some warehouse where Berial is using his sword to draw a summoning circle."

"How big?" Dante asked, already standing and throwing on his coat.

"Big," Nero said.

Everyone grabbed their weapons and sprinted outside, Nero jumping into his corvette in the parking garage that opened from the back of the building into the street and speeding off, Kyrie closing the garage from the inside after him. Nero sped down the street, quickly meeting up with the other three as they sped down the road, Nero taking the lead. After a few more minutes, he skidded to a stop, the others stopping around him as they all saw the leveled remains of a warehouse melting in a massive fire, Berial and the massive spider, Phantom, on top of it, watching the new arrivals from across the now complete summoning circle.

"Man, we just can't catch a break," Dante growled, stepping out of the car. "If we can kill Berial fast enough, the circle should fade. Nero, you and me are on him. Trish, Lady, handle Phantom. Don't get too close."

The other three nodded and they all charged at the two creatures. Berial leapt at the two males, both scattering just before he crashed down then slashed at Dante. Dante flipped over it before Nero's Devil Bringer crashed into the side of Berial's face, launching him to the side, into a second warehouse. As Berial stood, he roared, massive flames exploding off of his body. At the same time, the summoning circle flashed and the ground inside fell away.

"Well so much for that," Dante growled. "Nero, handle it."

Nero nodded, drawing Red Queen just as several Alto Angelos and Bianco Angelos flooded out of it.

"Shit!" Nero swore. "Dante! We've got a problem!"

"Busy!" Dante shouted, avoiding Berial's sword, slashing him when he could, since Berial's size made his pistols useless.

Nero looked over to the girls who were struggling just as much with Phantom, whose stone body seemed to be both bullet, rocket, and sword proof. Nero turned back to the cloud of false angels and rolled his eyes.

"Fuck it," Nero growled, a blue spectral demon forming behind him, holding Yamato in its right hand.

He stabbed Red Queen into the ground then swiped his left hand, the spectral demon's left hand swiping through the false angels, destroying an Alto and two Biancos. Nero began to make his spectral demon tear into the demons with both Yamato and its left arm but after several seconds, he was forced to rip Red Queen out of the ground and block an Alto Angelo's sword. He shoved the sword away, slashing the Alto Angelo across the chest before spinning in time for three Bianco Angelos to drive their lances through his torso.

"You bastards!" Nero seethed, destroying all three with Red Queen, his spectral demon having faded.

He ripped the lances out as a Bianco Angelo slammed its shield into him, launching him. He flipped, landing hard as Dante landed on his feet beside him, Trish and Lady regrouping a ways away, smoke curling out of several craters.

"They're stronger than I remember," Dante said.

"And these are as annoying in numbers as ever," Nero growled.

"What do we do?" Trish asked. "Swap targets?"

"Lady would definitely be more helpful against these," Nero said. "And I could crush Phantom in minutes."

Suddenly, Berial roared, charging past the group toward a car parked in the middle of the street. The door opened and a person wearing a black jacket, too far from the light to make out any distinct features, stepped out before the car went flying through the air at Berial. Berial slashed it then skidded to a stop, looking around for the missing human who he had been after.

"You lost him!" Phantom accused, voice as loud and annoying as ever.

"He was just here!" Berial snapped. "We won't be returning failures like the last one!"

"Who're you looking for?" Nero asked.

"Why are you after him?" Dante asked.

"Good question," Marcus said, stepping into the light and dropping his red coat, leaving him in only a white tee-shirt, black pants, and brown combat boots. "Here I am freaks. Come and get me. Oh, and Dante, I saw a billboard with a winged pig. Figured it was a sign."

"Man this kid's a real Sherlock Homes," Lady smirked.

"Is...Is that..." Nero trailed off.

"Yeah," Dante nodded. "That's Marcus."

Nero swallowed hard as Phantom leapt at Marcus. Marcus raised his Devil Bringer, the spectral arm catching Phantom before he hurled it at Dante.

"I don't do spiders," Marcus said.

"He's a scorpion," Dante said as Phantom crashed down behind Dante. "Hello comic relief."

"What?" Phantom demanded.

"You're comic relief," Dante said. "Nelo Angelo, Griffin, now they were scary. And don't get me started on Nightmare. But you. You're nothing."

Dante sped forward, slashing Phantom across the face before holding his pistols to the gap, blue electricity and blood red energy flying off of both before he opened fire into his skull, bits of stone and small splashes of lava flying out the other end of Phantom. As Dante killed him easily, the Angelos flew at Marcus. Marcus backhanded a group before one of the Alto Angelos stabbed him, staking him to the ground before flying away, leaving his sword. The others all froze.

"Marcus!" Nero shouted, drawing Blue Rose and opening fire on the Angelos, slaughtering several.

"Calm your ass bitch," Marcus growled, gripping the sword and wrenching it free before standing and moving his Devil Bringer to the sword's grip.

Nero stared at him as several of the false angels flew at him. His spectral arm formed, this time holding a spectral replica of the sword before Marcus slashed the angels rapidly, shredding them in seconds. Then, he spun, the spectral arm fading as Berial's sword crashed into his own stolen sword, halting. He grunted with effort and shoved the sword away then hurled his own into Berial's eye. Berial roared in pain and rage before Marcus's spectral arm grabbed Berial and crushed him, molten lava and sparks exploding out between the fingers.

"Holy shit," Trish said. "He's stronger than you Nero."

"No, he just uses Devil Bringer a lot more freely," Nero said, walking forward, left hand gripping his Devil Bringer apprehensively, as he hadn't done in a very long time. "Marcus?"

"What?" Marcus asked, turning toward him, blowing a lock of his silver hair out of his eyes. "Who're you? Oh, you're the guy with the other one huh? I see. I'd say sorry but I really don't care at the moment."

"You...have no idea who I am, do you?" Nero asked.

"Should I?" Marcus asked.

"I...I'm..." Nero trailed off, unsure what to say. "I'm...your father."

Marcus stared at him, eyes widening slowly before walking toward Nero slowly. He stopped before him, staring at him before his arms began to drift upward. A ghost of a smile crossed Nero's face before Marcus's Devil Bringer crashed into his jaw, launching him into Dante, who caught him, barely.

"Fuck you!" Marcus snarled. "I have no father! I have no family! I was raised in an orphanage where I was routinely beaten by all of the other kids and the old hag in charge of the orphanage! My family abandoned me the day I was born!"

"What?" Nero gaped. "No! We didn't abandon you! You were stillborn!"

"Oh, yeah, and I'm secretly an angel in disguise," Marcus snorted.

"Marcus, your mother and I-"

"YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER! ! !" Marcus seethed, wheeling around on him, Devil Bringer glowing brightly with his rage. "I SPENT THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF MY LIFE IN THE DEMON WORLD BECAUSE OF MY FAMILY! ! ! I SPENT SIX YEARS RUNNING AND HIDING FROM EVERY DEMON THAT WANTED TO GET AHOLD OF ME UNTIL THE ONLY PERSON TO EVER SHOW ME ANY KINDNESS SENT ME TO THE HUMAN WORLD! ! ! BUT EVEN THAT GOT FUCKED BECAUSE I ENDED UP AT THAT FUCKING HELLHOLE OF AN ORPHANAGE! ! ! IF YOU REALLY ARE MY FATHER, THEN YOU CLEARLY DON'T CARE! ! ! I HAVE NO FAMILY! ! !"

"You were...in the Demon World?" Nero blinked.

"Someone got you out of the Demon World?" Dante asked. "But there are only a handful of people if I'm being generous that can open a portal."

"Well she did," Marcus said, turning to walk away. "I thought maybe I should try to get a job, but clearly it was a bad idea."

"Wait!" Nero said, taking a step forward but stopping when Marcus glared back at him. "At...At least meet Kyrie. At least hear her side. Please. She's been heartbroken ever since..."

Marcus's glare was dripping with hatred, but he nodded. Nero nodded as well, sighing in relief. They all walked to the vehicles, Marcus getting into Nero's car with Dante, Nero taking Dante's bike instead. They all headed back to Devil May Cry, the ride tense, awkward, silent, and generally uncomfortable.

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	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Family Business

Marcus walked into the small shop and curled his lip in distaste. Demon heads lined the walls, still having various swords stuck in them. A door against the back wall was labeled, "SOUVENIRS" with a picture of a sword below the plaque. A desk sat in front of that with an old-fashioned phone with the rotating disk to dial with. To the right there was a drum set beside a door leading into a living room, more rooms branching off from there.

"This is where you work?" Marcus asked, walking around the room, taking in the demon heads first, then walking to the desk, staring at the picture on it of a woman that looked exactly like Trish, Dante's blonde ex-partner. "Nice picture of Trish. Half expected it to be a nake picture knowing you Dante."

"Uh, actually, that's my mother," Dante said.

Marcus stared at him, then the picture, then Trish before a grin spread over his face and he shook his head slowly.

"That takes the saying that all men marry their mother to a whole new level," Marcus smirked.

Dante turned crimson and Trish raised an eyebrow, also grinning.

"It does, doesn't it," Trish grinned.

A moment later, Nero stepped back into the room with a woman in a white dress with brown hair in a pony tail who stared at Marcus in awe.

"I take it you must be Kyrie," Marcus said, smile gone and face painstakingly neutral, his anger barely restrained.

"You...you...you're alive," Kyrie breathed.

Then, before Marcus had even realized she had moved, she had her arms around him, sobbing. He blinked in surprise.

"I c-can't believe you're a-alive!" Kyrie sobbed. "I'm s-so s-sorry! I-I w-would h-have f-found you if I h-had known! Y-You w-were stillb-born! Th-The d-doctor s-said th-that y-you just couldn't k-keep y-your heart b-beating! B-But...y-you're a-alive! I-I'm s-so g-glad!"

Marcus hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms around her in an awkward and reluctant hug.

"You...really had no idea?" Marcus asked.

"N-no!" Kyrie said, pulling away. "W-We w-would h-have f-found you i-if w-we h-had!"

"For almost a year Kyrie cried herself to sleep at night," Nero said. "Every night."

Marcus glanced at him before back at Kyrie.

"Then how did I end up in the Demon World?" Marcus asked.

"What!?" Kyrie asked, eyes wide.

"The first six years of my life I was in the Demon World," Marcus said. "I only survived because the woman that was taking care of me kept me hidden until I was six, when she sent me back to the human world."

"It's because you were dead," Dante said. "Your soul was in the Demon World, stolen by the doctor, a demon that I actually ended up killing a little while later. When you were sent to the human world, you soul formed itself a new body."

"And this?" Marcus asked, holding his Devil Bringer up.

"You inherited that from your father," Dante said.

Marcus stared at him for a moment before sighing.

"So how does this work, the job, I mean," Marcus said.

"People call when they need something," Dante said. "Usually we only accept jobs when they have a specific password. However, work's been pretty slow lately regarding people with passwords, so we've been going on jobs that don't. Actually, both of the jobs that I met up with you on were ones with no password, though the first was recommended to me by one of my older contacts."

"I see," Marcus said. "So, what, you're like devil police?"

"Not really no," Dante said. "We're all devil hunters. And we're also all partially devils. Lady and Kyrie were human at one time, but one one particularly nasty job they got hurt and needed blood. Unfortunately, the only available donors were myself and Trish. So now they no longer age like humans. We actually age about a quarter as fast."

"What, so I'll be this old for ever?" Marcus asked.

"Maybe not forever, but for a while yeah," Dante nodded.

"What's in there?" Marcus asked, pointing at the souvenir room.

"Souvenirs," Dante smirked. "Weapons and such that we've all collected over the years. Come on. You're going to need something other than that arm of yours, even if it is extremely overpowered. It's more fun with sword sand guns."

He unlocked the door and swung it open, stepping out of the way as Marcus walked in, looking around. There were swords, guns, gauntlets, boots, a briefcase with a skull on the front and lines of light spreading off of it, and a guitar.

"I thought you said this was a weapons room," Marcus said, reaching for the guitar, only for Nero's Devil Bringer's spectral arm to catch his wrist.

"Don't touch the guitar," Nero said. "It used to be a Succubus that Dante killed. Now, it tries to fry anyone who touches it besides Dante. Trish can use it because she's electricity proof, but the rest of us can't."

"Good to know," Marcus said. "And the brief case?"

"Pandora," Dante said. "It's a weapon capable of transforming into almost any gun you can think of."

Marcus nodded and Dante began to look around.

"What sort of weapons training do you have?" Dante asked.

"Training none," Marcus said. "Skill, I dunno. I can fight barehanded. And shoot. Not bad with swords, I guess."

"Jack of all trades," Dante grinned. "Good. I was wondering if you inherited our family's natural affinity for violence."

"What are you then, my grandfather?" Marcus asked.

"Granduncle, actually," Dante said. "You don't want to meet your grandfather."

"Why?" Marcus asked.

"He'd kill you," Dante said, staring off into space for a moment as he had been reaching for a sword. "Anyway, here, try this."

He handed Marcus a broadsword with a twisted metal grip, a skull pommel with a spike sticking out of the end, a dragon's head extending a few inches down the blade, and a pair of bat wings for a cross guard. Marcus spun it in his hand a couple of times, electricity running along the sword as he did.

"It likes you," Dante said.

"Really?" Marcus said, no amused. "Swords aren't alive."

"That sword is the manifestation of Alastor, the lightning devil," Dante said. "Its name is also Alastor."

"It's a nice sword but it's too big," Marcus said. "In confined spaces I couldn't use it, plus it's too heavy."

"Too heavy huh?" Dante mused. "The sword's power is lightning-fast attacks."

"That's not the problem," Marcus said. "I'd be wasting energy swinging it around."

He handed it back and Dante sighed, putting it back in its rack.

"Maybe next time Alastor," Dante sighed. "Hm...let's see."

"Is that broken sword I gave you still in here?" Nero asked.

"Your first Red Queen?" Dante asked. "Actually yeah. I keep meaning to get it fixed."

"Do it," Nero said. "If he wants it, it's his. Here, try this."

Nero handed him his sword and Marcus spun it a couple of times, inspecting the weapon before handing it back.

"It's neat," Marcus said. "Not my type though."

"Oh, I've got it," Dante said grabbing a sword. "Here."

He handed Marcus a slim weapon with two small round notches near the tip of the blade, similar to his own sword but smaller, and a hilt that looked like it was made out of bone, despite being as hard as steel. It had no cross guard, but it was extremely light.

"This was my first sword," Dante said. "I used it up until I found one of my father's armories where he had been keeping Rebellion to give to me as a gift."

"It'll work," Marcus said. "How do I get it to stick to my back like you two do?"

"These swords are all imbued with demonic power," Dante said. "They do it on their own."

Marcus placed the sword against his back experimentally and it remained there when he let go.

"It'll stay there until you remove it yourself," Dante said.

Marcus nodded, lowering his hands and suddenly felt weight in each. He looked down, seeing a pair of pistols with the slide of something like a 1911, and the grip a strange twisted, root-looking metal. He inspected them but there was no place to put ammo, and he had no idea where they came from.

"Those come with the sword," Dante said. "It sort of manifests them for you. Here."

He handed Marcus a double under-arm holster, and Marcus set the pistols on a shelf, putting the holster on over his shirt before putting the pistols in it.

"You're also going to need something with more of a kick," Dante said. "At least until you learn to charge those with your demonic energy. So here. You can take Pandora."

"How's it work?" Marcus asked.

"Picture a weapon and it forms it," Dante said. "And no, you can't make a pistol that shoots explosive bullets or something. Whatever weapon it makes functions the way it should."

Marcus nodded, accepting the briefcase and Dante picked up a broken sword's hilt and blade then walked out of the room, closing it behind himself.

"I think it's about time I had this fixed after all," Dante said.

Just then the phone rang and Nero answered.

"Devil May Cry," Nero said. "Yes we accept cash. Alright. We're on our way."

"What's up?" Dante asked.

"Another Summoning Circle," Nero said.

"Three in a day?" Dante asked. "That can't be coincidence. Password?"

"Yeah," Nero nodded.

"I see," Dante nodded. "Nero, Trish, take the kid out for a spin. See what he can do with his toys."

Both nodded and Marcus glared at him.

"I'm not a kid," Marcus growled.

"Course you're not," Dante said. "Anyway, I gotta go get this thing back in working order. See you when you get back."

The three of them nodded, walking outside and getting on the bikes then speeding out into the street. Nero took the lead, as he knew where the job was, and before long, they reached the same park where Marcus had killed the creature from the first summoning circle. Here, there were a pair of Alto Angelos hovering over a glowing blu summoning circle.

"Alright," Nero said, just as the ground in the summoning circle fell away, blood flooding out of it. "Looks like we're late."

"What is it?" Marcus asked.

"Don't know," Nero said, drawing Blue Rose and shooting the two false angels. "But we're about to find out."

The blood began to rise, running off of whatever was below it rapidly. Spikes began to rise out of the top of the blood before finally the blood fell away, leaving a creature with a body like a cross between a gorilla and a pufferfish.

"Huh," Nero mused. "And here I was expecting something familiar."

The creature swung its arms upward and several spikes hot out at the three devil hunters. They scattered and Trish and Nero landed on the roof of a building a ways away. The creature turned toward them before Nero pointed at Marcus. It turned toward him and he drew his pistols, aiming at it.

"You," the creature snarled. "What luck. I get to be the one."

The creature swiped an arm at Marcus, missing by a hair's breadth as he leapt to the side, opening fire on the creature. It roared in pain as blood flew into the air but it swung the other arm, firing more spikes at him. Marcus flipped into the air over the spikes, firing at the creature even as he flipped upside down then back to the ground. He put his pistols away and drew his sword, slashing a spike out of the air then charged. The creature slammed its hands into the ground, massive spikes blasting out of the ground at him rapidly. He rolled to the side, getting to his feet and lunging, stabbing at the creature, only for it to leap to the side. It swiped at him, firing several spikes and Marcus rolled under them before sprinting forward. The creature swiped at him at point blank range and he ducked under the arm then stood, splitting the creature's front open, knocking it onto its back. It roared in range as Marcus's spectral arm slammed down on it, getting its spikes stuck in the ground, pinning it. He stepped up onto it, putting his sword to its throat.

"Why are all of these demons after me?" Marcus demanded.

"I don't answer to you!" the demon spat.

Marcus drew a pistol and shot off one toe. The demon roared.

"Wrong answer," Marcus said. "Answer the question."

"Fuck you!" the demon spat.

Another toe gone.

"I've got plenty more to go," Marcus said.

"Alright!" the demon roared. "The master demands your blood! only your blood can open a portal strong enough for the master to come through!"

"Why mine?" Marcus asked.

"Your blood is special!" the demon said. "Your body only existed after your soul left the Spirit World! You're special! i don't know why!"

"This is about my Devil Bringer, right?" Marcus asked. "Nero's got one."

"The Devil Bringer is only a part of it!" the demon said. "It has to be yours!"

"I see," Marcus said. "Then I suppose your master will just have to come and get it himself."

He drove the sword into the demon's throat, killing it. Nero and Trish landed beside him just as the world around them began to freeze and grow dark. They looked around just as a light began to glow in the distance. After a moment, a pair of glowing red females with long tentacles for hair stalked seductively out of the darkness toward them. Once they were a few meters from the devil hunters, the two glowing females turned toward each other, kissing as their bodies began to rub against each other, their hands exploring.

A gunshot rang out and blood exploded out of the side of one of the two's heads, the other shrieking and looking to Marcus, who turned his pistol on her, killing her as well. Once both were on the ground, he shot the tendrils of flesh and cartilage attached to their heads. Then, Marcus put his gun away, drawing his sword.

"Well, get out her toad," Marcus snarled.

"How did you know?" Nero asked.

"He's not the first to attack me," Marcus said as the world around them lightened slowly, revealing the massively oversized toad demon, ice crystals covering its back.

"You!" the toad roared, staring at Nero. "You killed my brother! You killed Bael!"

"You're goddamn right I did," Nero said. "You're next."

The toad roared, a wave of ice spikes exploding out of the ground toward them. The three scattered and Marcus charged. The toad turned toward him just in time for Marcus to split its face open. It reeled backward as golden lightning blasted into its back, exploding and shattering the ice just before both Trish and Nero crashed down on its back. The toad roared in pain and Both jumped off as Marcus put his sword away, drawing his pistols and opening fire into its mouth, the bullets shredding its insides for a moment before exploding out of its back. After a moment, he put both away, picking up Pandora as it opened and began to grow, forming a massive cannon with three barrels. He smirked, pulling the trigger and the cannon fired three rockets that all flew into the toad's mouth as it roared. Then, Pandora collapsed back into a briefcase as the rockets exploded, splattering the toad all over the ground.

"Not bad at all," Nero said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you had been using those weapons all your life."

"Is that it?" Marcus asked, looking at the seal. "No more?"

"Not right now," Nero said. "Let's get back to the shop."

Marcus nodded and they all got back on their bikes, driving back to the shop just as Dante walked around the corner.

"Perfect timing," Dante said. "How'd it go?"

"He's good," Nero said. "We fought one of those ice toads and he tore it apart in seconds. We helped, granted, but not much."

"Good," Dante said. "Come on. Let's see if our payment for the last two has shown up yet."

They all nodded, walking into the shop.

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	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Patterns

"Whataya mean we're not getting paid?" Dante shouted, slamming a fist on the table. "We stopped three summonings in a day!"

"And the person who hired us for each died," Trish said. "The money from the first one was taken for the funeral and repairs to the house, the buildings across from it, the street, and the park, and the two men who hired us for the second and third were both killed before we arrived."

"Should have made a cash first rule," Dante grumbled.

"So what now?" Marcus asked.

"Now we wait for another job," Dante sighed. "Hopefully it won't be for-"

The phone began to ring and Dante groaned before answering.

"Devil May Cry," Dante said. "What for? Where?"

He pinched the phone between his ear and shoulder, then pulled a map of the city out from under his desk, unrolling it across the desk and pulling out a marker, marking four spots.

"Is it glowing, or releasing blood?" Dante asked. "Good. I'm sending someone now. Nero, you and Trish need to get to the factory. There's another one. It's being opened by a small group of Death Scythes."

"Right," Nero nodded, he and Trish sprinting out of the building, speeding away on their bikes.

"Is it usually this busy?" Marcus asked.

"Never," Dante said, staring at the map.

Marcus looked at it and saw that the four marks were the summoning circles' locations.

"There's got to be something going on," Dante said. "Something. They're not searching for something, summoning circles can reach into any dimension."

"Are you sure the locations are random?" Marcus asked.

"What do you mean?" Dante asked, looking up at him.

"Well, there are four right now, but say there were five," Marcus said, taking the marker, marking a fifth spot. "Say it was here. What do you see?"

"A circle," Dante said. "A perfect circle."

"What was the order?" Marcus asked, more to himself. "Mansion, warehouse, park, factory..." As he listed them, he drew a line from one to the next, ending with the imaginary fifth one. "Now what do you see?"

"Pentagram," Dante said, staring at the star now covering his map. " Oh my god. They're summoning something massive. How much ground does this cover?"

"About a mile," Marcus said. "And this is the center."

He pointed to a building and Dante stared at it.

"A bank?" Dante asked.

"The first building to go whether the summoning circle collapses or explodes," Marcus said.

"It's a skyscraper so it'll probably take some time to...sons of bitches," Dante growled. "Lady, go evacuate the bank and everything around it."

"What's wrong?" Marcus asked as Lady ran away.

"I once destroyed a demon that was a living skyscraper," Dante said. "He's not overly dangerous to me but he was difficult to damage and he can level a building easily."

"Got it," Marcus nodded. "And what if they summon something else?"

"It's probably going to be numerous things given the size," Dante said. "I really hope Nero can stop his summoning, or that you're wrong and they're random."

The phone began to ring. Marcus picked it up.

"Devil May Cry," Marcus said.

"Hello?" a panicked male voice asked. "Please, I need your help! There's a giant bird with a freaky head and some sort of bug things here! They're drawing something in the ground! Some sort of circle!"

"Where?" Marcus asked.

"The airport!" the man cried.

"On our way," Marcus said, putting the phone down. "Five. Exactly where I guessed."

"What is it?" Dante asked.

"A bird with a freaky head and bugs," Marcus said.

"Griffin," Dante said. "Go. Fast. Use your Devil Bringer to kill Griffin as fast as possible. Then worry about the bugs."

Marcus nodded and ran outside to the bike, taking it and speeding away from the shop, racing toward the airport. As he neared it, he gunned it even more, shooting up a low bank on the side of the road and jumping over the fence, landing on the runway and streaking along it toward the massive bird hovering over a pool of blood where blood red lightning was almost continually striking the ground.

"Delay him!" Griffin ordered.

The bugs swarmed toward Marcus and he skidded to a stop, drawing one of his pistols and opening fire, bugs exploding rapidly, massive splats sounding as their green slimy blood hit the ground. As soon as Marcus had stopped, he leapt off the bike, drawing his sword and beginning to spin and slash his way through the cloud of bugs, sword slicing through bugs rapidly in one hand as his gun shot anything too far to slash. It was slow progress, though. After a moment, he put his sword away just before a bug crashed into his chest, slamming him into the ground and moving to bite him only for him to shoot it. Then, he drew his other pistol and leapt into the air, spinning and firing, bugs exploding into green slime all around him. Finally, he landed on his feet, hurling his pistols into the air and holding his hand out, his spectral arm shooting to the bike and grabbing Pandora, pulling it back to him in under a second.

He snapped it open, jumping as a massive cage made of two perpendicular rings of metal with barrels extending from them all the way around formed, a seat and a pair of handles forming as well. He grabbed the handles, squeezing the right trigger. Two seconds later, the rings were spinning and flipping around him in a blur. Then, he squeezed the other trigger as well, the guns on all sides of him opening fire, heavy machine gun bullets shredding the insects, as well as spraying Griffen, even from a distance. Griffen was pushed forward and his next lightning bolt drilled its way through him, blasting the ground. He crashed to the ground, shrieking in pain as Marcus retracted Pandora, having finished the insects. He formed Pandora into a bracelet to carry it easier and drew his pistols, sprinting forward as he opened fire on Griffen. Griffen shrieked in pain again as bullets slammed into him. Then, a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky at Marcus. Marcus hurled himself to the side and sprinted forward again, putting his pistols away and holding out his Devil Bringer.

The spectral arm shot out, grabbing Griffen by the entire upper body and squeezed, blood spraying out of Griffen in various places where bones had severed arteries on the way out of his skin. Then, he dropped Griffen and Griffen crashed down hard, blood still spraying out of him and mixing with the blood seeping out of the seal.

"My...thanks," Griffen said.

Then, his entire body lit up red before transforming into a bolt of blood red lightning which shot into the air before lightning began to strike the entire seal at once. Several bolts flew at Marcus as well but he hurled himself out of the way, just as the summoning circle began to unleash a geyser of blood.

"Shit," Marcus sighed. "Sorry Dante. I fucked up."

After several seconds of nothing happening, the blood began to die down. Then, just as it neared the ground again, something began to appear. White hair. Dante's face, except younger, closer to his own age. Blue trench coat. Black vest underneath. Fingerless brown gloves. Black pants. Black boots. No weapon.

"Who the hell are you?" Marcus demanded.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"Why do you look like Dante?" Marcus demanded.

"Dante?" the man asked. "Is he still alive? I suppose it can't have been that long then. Tell me, where can I find him?"

"Why the hell should I tell you?" Marcus asked, drawing his sword. "I could just kill you now!"

"I know that sword," the man said. "Dante used to wield it when we were children. Are you my brother's son then?"

"Brother?" Marcus breathed. "So then...you're my..."

"Well, at any rate, it doesn't matter," the man said. "Tell me where I can find my brother so that I can settle our score. And retrieve my sword."

"I'm not telling you where Dante is," Marcus said, gripping his sword with both hands, Devil Bringer glowing sightly.

"That's an interesting arm you have there," the man said. "You're definitely a descendant of Sparda. Fine. If you're so determined to face me, let's see what you can do."

He sprinted forward and Marcus moved to meet him. As soon as they met, Marcus slashed and the man spun, kicking Marcus's hands, knocking the sword aside before spinning the other way and planting his foot in Marcus's chest, hurling him backward, the sword stabbing into the ground between them. Marcus stood as a glowing blue sword appeared over the man's shoulder, shooting toward him. Marcus drew one of his pistols, shooting the sword and shattering it before shooting at the man. The man smirked, vanishing just ahead of the bullets before reappearing beside Marcus's sword, picking it up and hurling it, the sword impaling Marcus and staking him to the ground. The man walked forward calmly, a glowing sword appearing in his right hand.

"Come now, don't tell me the Sparda bloodline has become so watered down that you can't even survive a small wound like that," Vergil smirked. I'm quite disappointed."

Marcus stood suddenly, ripping the sword out and sprinting at the man, slashing. The man blocked his slash and shoved it sideways, slashing at Marcus. Marcus spun, managing to block the man's slash and slashing at the man instead. The man made no move to block or avoid the attack, allowing it to slice his abdomen open as his own sword slashed Marcus's side. Marcus shouted in pain, staggering sideways and holding a hand to his side.

"You're quite disappointing," the man said. "My brother and I would be drenched in each other's blood by now. Can you really not withstand even minor wounds?"

Marcus stepped forward, slashing for all he was worth. The man blocked it, grinning, until the much larger spectral blade crashed through his sword, splitting him nearly in half and hurling him. The man crashed down hard, shattering the ground before rolling for a ways. Marcus drew his pistols, opening fire and filling the man with holes for several seconds. Finally, he stopped, keeping the pistols aimed at him. He expected the man to fade and another to appear, or for the man to shatter into a swarm of blades that would then attack him. Something. Anything to show he had escaped harm. Instead, the man pushed himself up, grinning wickedly as the wounds he had suffered all healed, the man inspecting his ruined coat.

"You're going to be repaying me for this coat," the man said. "It was my favorite."

He formed a pair of sword and charged forward, one sword blurring through the air, splitting the bullets as they flew at him. When he reached Marcus, he easily swept Marcus's sword aside then tripped him before staking him to the ground with both of his glowing swords.

"Pathetic," the man said. "I expected you to at least understand your own sword's abilities. Didn't my brother teach you anything?"

Marcus coughed, blood spraying out of his mouth.

"I punctured both of your lungs," the man said. "You'll live just fine. Your Sparda blood, pathetically watered down though it may be, will heal you. But for now, I'm going to go and draw my brother out. A few human deaths should do the trick."

The man turned, walking away and Marcus glared after him. If he had a weapon to make his punches and kicks stronger like the gauntlets he had seen in the armory, he could have beaten the man. Especially when coupling his augmented strength with his Devil Bringer. Suddenly, his sword glowed red and vanished. The man stopped, then turned and looked back as a glowing red fist made out of whatever the sword's hilt had been appeared over Marcus's left fist and a massive foot over each of his own, all three on fire. Marcus grinned, punching his new fist through the man's swords, destroying them and allowing him to flip to his feet, grinning as his wounds hissed and steamed, sealing themselves up.

"Ah, so it wasn't watered down so much after all," the man smirked. "You simply didn't know how to use it fully."

Marcus turned, sprinting at the man, throwing a punch with his Devil Bringer. the man held his right arm behind his back and raised his left, blocking the Devil Bringer, a shockwave shooting out from the impact. Marcus leapt into the air, swinging around and throwing a kick at the man. The man ducked under it then stood, slamming his left hand into Marcus's stomach, throwing him backward. Marcus flipped, skidding to a stop before charging, throwing a punch with his left fist this time. The man brushed the strike off like he was waving his hand through smoke. Marcus planted his hand on the ground and spun on it, feet flashing around at the man. The man leapt over it, flipping and drilling a left-handed punch at Marcus. This time, however, Marcus caught it with his Devil Bringer.

"Fighting with one hand makes you predictable," Marcus grinned, his left hand's upgrade spreading above his elbow too.

He slammed his elbow into the ground below himself, blasting a section of it out of the way so he could pull his fist back. Then, he smashed the fist into the man's face, launching him skyward. As the man fell, Marcus extended his spectral hand swinging downward and slamming the man back into the ground with an open handed slap like swatting a fly. He let the spectral arm fade and the man stood, dusting himself off and spitting out blood before smirking.

"Alright," the man said. "I'll admit. You're pretty good. You're a quick study."

He sprinted forward, sending several spectral swords at Marcus, which Marcus dodged. Then, Marcus stepped forward, his spectral arm shooting forward as a fist, narrowly missing and fading as the man punched Marcus in the jaw then jumped, kicking him in the same spot, throwing him. Marcus flipped, landing on his feet and stepped forward, forming his spectral arm around his Devil Bringer as he threw a haymaker at the man. The man moved to block it only for Marcus to slip the punch under his block, drilling it into his side, the spectral arm shooting outward and launching him. The man flipped, landing on his feet and laughing, even as blood splattered out of his mouth.

"Very good," the man stated, pushing himself up as he began to change.

His ruined coat restored itself, his black pants turned blue and molded to his legs, his boots transforming into feet with clawed toes. His black shirt turned blue and his hands turned black as his fingers extended to points. His white hair turned metallic silver sticking up and behind himself as though slicked back. The collar of his coat now reached up to be beside his nose, assuming he still had one. His face turned black, his mouth reaching from behind one side of the collar to behind the other, sharp pointed teeth visible, and his eyes began to glow green. Lastly, his left sleeve grew outward then up along the outside of his arm, forming an oddly-shaped spike.

"Your time's up," the man said, voice distorted and seeming to be switching between several pitches rapidly making a high trilling sound as he spoke. "It's over!"

Then, he was in front of Marcus, his fist crashing into Marcus's face. Marcus flew backward, flipping twice before the man appeared behind him, foot in the air before crashing down on him in an axe kick. Marcus flipped, kicking at the man only for the man to catch his foot and flip him over himself, smashing him into the ground. Then back the other way. Then the other. Marcus lost count of how many times, but after several moments, the augmentations to his hand and feet disappeared, his sword stabbing into the ground before he was smashed to the ground one last time. Then, the man began to walk away, reverting to his human form as he did.

"Damn," Marcus groaned before passing out.

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	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Reunion

Dante leapt into the air as a massive energy beam passed under him, exploding in the distance. He landed lightly, raising his grenade launcher and firing the last shot. It flew into the oversized chunk of living debris's mouth and exploded, demolishing the little that remained of it. About an hour ago, the massive summoning circle had been completed. It hadn't opened like it should have, but it did mutate the bank into Nefasturris. For the following hour, he had slowly broken it down piece by piece, effectively leveling the bank with grenades, a laser charged by his Demonic Power from his time on Mallet Island, and a pair of pistols.

"Finally, that's over with," Dante sighed, putting his grenade launcher away.

"Well well, you certainly have aged, Brother," a familiar voice said behind him. "How long has it been?"

Dante turned, staring at Vergil incredulously.

"Vergil," Dante breathed. "But...the summoning circles. They were to revive you?"

"Me?" Vergil scoffed. "No no. I was just one of the guardians lucky enough to be chosen for revival. You may have recognized a few of the others."

"A few," Dante growled. "Well, since you came all the way here to see me, I suppose I should throw you a party, shouldn't I?"

He took a fighting stance, Beowulf glowing slightly as he did. Vergil took a fighting stance of his own, progressing into his Devil Trigger form. He sprinted forward, throwing a punch at Dante but Dante easily swept it aside then kicked Vergil, throwing him.

"You made a mistake, Brother," Dante said. "I'm much stronger than the last time we met."

"I know," Vergil nodded. "Didn't you have to wonder why two at a time? If I was coming from one of them, who is it your friends were fighting?"

Dante's eyes widened just before he flipped sideways out of the way of a molten lava sword. He landed on his feet, looking back at Despair Embodied and Arius. He drew his sword, swallowing hard, then readied himself.

"You can't defeat all three of us, Brother," Vergil said.

"I can try," Dante snarled. "Just one question. Are they alive?"

"No," Vergil smirked. "They're dead."

"I see," Dante said. "And Marcus? Did you kill your own grandson?"

"My... _My_ grandson?" Vergil blinked. "But that's impossible!"

"Marcus, and his father Nero, they have your blood, Vergil," Dante said. "You're a father. You're a grandfather."

"I see," Vergil nodded. "And I'd wager Yamato has been passed on to my son, then. It couldn't be with Marcus. He's not strong enough."

"You will never get your hands on that sword," Dante said. "It doesn't belong to you anymore."

Vergil charged, jumping and throwing a kick at Dante but Dante spun out of the way then kicked him. Then, he spun, ducking under Arius's tentacles before removing them. He drew his pistol, shooting him rapidly before blocking the Despair Embodied's sword. He grit his teeth, struggling for a moment before shooting the Despair embodied rapidly for a moment, then shoving the sword away and slashing the demon. It roared, backing away and Dante spun, firing at Arius again, stopping him from attacking Dante again. Then, Dante spun, ducking under Vergil's fist just in time for the Despair Embodied's sword to sprout from his chest.

"It's over, Brother," Vergil said. "Your blood shall open the way for the Master."

Dante's blood began to pool on the ground, but after several seconds of silence, still nothing happened.

"What's going on?" Vergil snarled. "Why won't it open!?"

"It's not his blood you need," Marcus spoke up as the Despair Embodied hurled Dante aside, Dante struggling to stand. "His blood may be powerful, but it's mine that can open the gate."

"Is that right?" Vergil grinned. "How convenient. Marcus, was it? Get him Arius."

Arius charged, tentacles shooting out at Marcus, however Marcus stepped aside, slashing them before sending out his spectral arm and crushing Arius beneath his fist, glowing blue blood splattering across the ground and over the spectral fist before the fist faded.

"Nice try," Marcus snarled, twirling his sword in his right hand as it formed a large scythe. "But I'm not in the mood to battle some useless pawns. I want a rematch, Grandfather."

"I see," Vergil grinned. "Well, first you'll have to go through-"

He was cut off by a bolt of yellow lightning hitting the Despair Embodied and launching it away. Nero and Trish limped their way over, stopping beside Dante, where Trish knelt down, cradling his head in her lap.

"I'll take this thing from here," Nero said. "Marcus, can you handle him?"

"No," Marcus said. "He's definitely going to open the gate. But I can keep him and whatever comes out busy long enough for you to finish that thing."

Nero nodded, drawing Red Queen in his left hand as both of their enemies readied themselves, Vergil picking up Rebellion. Marcus moved first, charging at Vergil as Vergil grinned, crouching and pulling Rebellion back. As Marcus reached him, the Despair Embodied streaked past him at Nero. Marcus drove his spectral arm into the ground, breaking it apart and hurling it at Vergil, who began to slash the chunks of rubble as they flew at him. Then, suddenly, Marcus was in front of him, slashing. Vergil blocked it and shoved it away, slashing rapidly at Marcus. Marcus fended off the blows as quickly as he could, his scythe flashing around and around, Vergil unable to get his much heavier and much slower weapon past it. Marcus spun, his scythe blade splitting Vergil's side open twice in rapid succession before Marcus went back to blocking Vergil's strikes, being extremely careful. He could not afford to be wounded.

Off to the side, Nero was only just barely keeping the Despair Embodied from running him through. Dante may be able to easily outfight the demon, but it was much harder than he made it look. Finally he grabbed it by the leg with his Devil Bringer's spectral arm and began to smash it into the ground rapidly. Finally, he smashed it down in front of himself and drove his sword down into its face as Lady and Kyrie both arrived.

"Kyrie, stay back!" Nero said, sprinting toward Vergil and Marcus.

"You!" Lady seethed, opening fire on Vergil, who began to block Marcus's sword and her bullets at the same time.

"Hello again, girl," Vergil greeted. "You've grown up quite well."

"Shut up!" Lady seethed.

"Lady!" Dante rasped. "Let them handle it."

"Dante!" Lady gasped, rushing over.

Nero reached Vergil and slashed, Vergil ducking under it then blocking Marcus's scythe and grinning.

"How terrific," Vergil grinned. "My son and my grandson together, bringing me both Yamato and the key to this seal."

Marcus kicked at Vergil who leapt back then spun, blocking Nero's sword as Marcus's scythe tore through him. He shouted in pain, staggering sideways and grinning.

"Very well," Vergil grinned. "I'll admit. If we continue on like this, I'm finished."

He activated his Devil Trigger and charged, sweeping Nero's sword aside instantly and kicking him at Marcus. Marcus stepped around him, spinning his scythe around himself as quickly as he could as he charged. His scythe met Vergil's sword rapidly, sparks flying as they fought. Then, Vergil spun past both the scythe and Marcus, kicking him away then spinning, blocking Nero's sword and grabbing him by the throat. He spun, hurling Nero only for Nero to flip, landing on his feet as the silhouette formed behind him, blue energy radiating from his body.

"Uh, I see," Vergil grinned. "You are incapable of true Devil Trigger. You are only capable of calling upon the ghost of my power. Then this will be simple."

Vergil switched his sword to his Devil Buster and charged, slashing rapidly, the silhouette doing the same with Yamato. Vergil fended off the strikes from both before glowing spinning blades began to appear over the silhouette, flying at Vergil only to shatter against Vergil's own spectral swords. After several minutes, Vergil ducked past both blades and slashed Nero across the stomach, the silhouette fading before Vergil kicked Nero in the back of the head, sending him crashing into Marcus.

"Get off of me!" Marcus snapped, shoving Nero aside. "I'll handle this!"

"Not alone," Nero said, pushing himself up and drawing Blue Rose in his left hand. "Together."

They both charged, slashing at Vergil rapidly but he grinned wickedly, blocking their strikes and positioning himself between them. Suddenly, they found themselves having to dodge each other's strikes as they attacked Vergil. Marcus jumped, kicking at Vergil and Vergil ducked, the kick hitting Nero in the jaw. Nero staggered sideways, then threw a punch with his Devil Bringer, but Vergil pushed outward slightly on the inside of Nero's arm and the fist hit Marcus in the gut instead. Then, Vergil grabbed both of their arms and spun, hurling them. Once again, Nero crashed down on top of Marcus.

"That's it!" Marcus seethed. "I'm fighting him alone!"

"No, I'll help," Nero said.

"I don't need your help!" Marcus snapped. "Ever since you've been helping, all we've done is get in each other's way! you're not helping me! You've never helped me! Where was your help when I was being hunted throughout the entirety of the Demon World!? Where was your help when I was being abused at that god forsaken orphanage!? Where was your help when I was hunted by demons and called a freak my entire life!? I don't need your help! I don't want your help! I was better off not knowing you!"

His Devil Bringer shone brightly just as the same silhouette as Nero could form appeared behind him, reaching out and grabbing Marcus's lost sword and bringing it back, depositing it in his waiting hand before forming a spectral version. Then, Marcus charged, Vergil readying himself. Just as Marcus neared Vergil, his silhouette shrunk down, covering him. Then, they slashed together, their combined swords crashing into Vergil's and sending him skidding backward as they followed. Vergil growled in annoyance and charged, ducking under their next slash and slashing at them. Marcus flipped over it, slashing at Vergil and splitting his back open again. Then, he landed on his feet, slashing yet again as Vergil turned, blocking the blade only for Marcus's silhouette to slam its free fist into his jaw, launching him. Vergil crashed down then pushed himself up, growling in annoyance.

"I'm already tired of this," Vergil snarled. "Time to die!"

He began to grow, gaining almost a foot in moments as his devil body transformed into black armor, a dark cape growing from his shoulders as he grew a pair of purple horns and hurled Rebellion aside, a massive black sword appearing in his hand, blue flames roaring to life along the blade. He roared, the sound distorted by his helmet, then charged. Marcus met his charge, their swords meeting rapidly, massive bursts of flame and spark flying off each time. Vergil wasn't as fast this time, so there was no need for Marcus to use the scythe.

Vergil knocked Marcus's sword aside and slashed at him only for Marcus to step out of the way, drawing a pistol and beginning to fire, the bullets bouncing off but denting the armor and the force knocking Vergil backward. Finally Vergil spun past the stream of bullets, charging at Marcus only for Marcus to slash, blocking the blade, a shockwave launching off of their blades. Then, Vergil push kicked Marcus, knocking him backward. Marcus crashed to the ground hard and Vergil appeared over him. He slashed Marcus's sword, launching it away before Marcus smashed both feet into his chest, throwing him backward. Then, he transformed Pandora into a massive cannon, which he slammed to the ground a second before a massive blood red laser beam shot out, hitting Vergil in the chest and exploding.

Everything was silent for several seconds, before Vergil charged out of the smoke, roaring. Marcus fired again but Vergil dodged it, then slashed Pandora, throwing it aside. Marcus dove to the side, away from a slash. Before he could regain his footing, Vergil kicked him, throwing him. Marcus pushed himself up as Vergil reached him, already slashing. At the last second, Nero shoved him aside, Vergil's sword splitting his chest open before Vergil spun, bisecting him at the waist. Marcus shouted in rage, his spectral arm crashing into Vergil and launching him, before he knelt beside Nero.

"Nero!" Marcus said. "No! Hang in there! You've gotta hold on!"

"Are you...alright?" Nero asked.

"Why?" Marcus asked. "Why would you sacrifice yourself for me?"

"Because...you're my...son," Nero smiled. "A father...always looks out...for his son."

"No," Marcus breathed as Nero's head began to tilt back. "No no no! Nero...Dad...You've got to hold on! You can't die! You can't! I need you!"

"You don't...need me..." Nero smiled. "You never have. Even as...a child...you didn't...need me."

"Dad...I can't do it!" Marcus said. "I can't beat him!"

"You can," Nero said, dragging his sword over and pressing the hilt to Marcus's chest. "You have to."

Marcus took the sword and Nero smiled, setting his head back against the ground, eyes glazing over. Marcus stared at him in silence, Vergil walking toward him.

"You killed him," Marcus said, standing slowly, gripping Red Queen tightly in his Devil Bringer as the Devil Bringer began to shine brighter and brighter. "I'LL DESTROY YOU! ! !"

Suddenly, his shirt exploded off, his entire body transforming into whatever his Devil Bringer was, a glowing blue spot on his chest and spreading down both arms like cracks, both arms now Devil Bringers, as well as down each leg to the tops of his now bare feet, his pants having been shredded around mid-calf. His back was mostly brown but with some patches of dark blue like the inside of his arms. His face had become a flat dark blue with glowing red eyes and the brown extending up around his head and then where he had had hair, now spiked backward. Vergil stopped, staring at Marcus.

"I see," Vergil mused. "You're able to truly use your Devil powers. You're even stronger than your father was."

Marcus roared in rage, the sound distorted but no less unsettling, and charged, slashing at Vergil rapidly with Red Queen. Vergil began to backpedal from the sheer force of the strikes, barely fending the blows off. Then, he spun around Marcus, kicking him and sending him flipping through the air. Marcus flipped, driving his left hand into the ground and tearing along the ground, planting his feet and skidding to a stop beside his own sword. He ignored it, sprinting at Vergil again, twisting the top portion of Red Queen's handle sharply, the sword instantly lighting up blood red. Then, he and Vergil both slashed, their blades exploding into each other, Vergil's exploding as he was launched backward. He flipped, stopping himself as Marcus had just as a katana with a black sheath landed in front of him. He laughed, picking it up and drawing it, slashing. As he did, despite being hundreds of meters away, a tiny cut opened on Marcus's shoulder, not enough for him to bleed, but enough to show how dangerous the sword was.

"Hah!" Vergil laughed. "You can keep Yamato! I've got a better one now!"

Marcus roared, charging as Vergil charged to meet him. Vergil was much faster now, no longer slowed down by the heavy over-sized weapon he had had before. He slashed at Marcus and Marcus blocked the slash, shoving it away then slashing at Vergil. Vergil ducked under the slash and slashed upward at Marcus. Marcus caught his wrist and slashed again, splitting Vergil's back wide open. As he did, Vergil dropped his katana to his other hand and spun. The blade drove itself through Marcus, blood splattering across the ground, instantly glowing bright blue and fading.

"Much better," Vergil grinned before spinning, wrenching the blade out.

Suddenly, neither was being careful. Their blades were flashing around much too fast to track, blood flying in every direction as they tore into each other. All of Marcus's blood was absorbed by the seal while Vergil's simply remained where it fell, but neither cared. Finally, Vergil blocked a slash from Marcus, shoving Red Queen aside and kicking Marcus backward. Just as Marcus crashed to the ground, Vergil appeared over him, driving both Marcus's own sword and Red Queen down through his chest into the ground.

"It's over," Vergil grinned, just as the horizon on all sides lit up. "It's begun."

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	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

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Unleashed

Marcus stared up at the sky. Rain landed lightly against his face. He was aware that he was in pain. So much pain. And that he was no longer in his Devil form. He tried to move but even twitching his finger seemed impossible. He could see the light of the seal. He could hear swords crashing against each other. He felt his right arm warm up before a weight settled on it and was able to get his head to roll to the right, seeing a katana in a blue sheath lying in his hand. When had that gotten there? He looked past his hand, seeing Dante was up and dueling with Vergil, only barely holding his own, already in his own Devil Trigger form, his wound healed. Then, the ground shook, and the light around them shone blindingly. Both half-devils stopped, looking around. Then, Marcus felt something else. The ground was moving. Sinking. Cracks were spreading across the ground but he could only barley hit them. His weight was shifting him on the two blades through his chest, the pain blocking out his senses as he lay there lifelessly. The ground continued to sink below him, then, it crumbled.

He was falling. There was no sound, the only light being what he could see above him, the ground crumbling away and making the hole bigger but he was falling fast, the hole seeming to shrink rapidly. He was aware of his Devil Bringer clinging to the katana instinctively, of the other two swords tearing free of his body. But still he fell, darkness beginning to swallow him and the two swords falling just above him. Then, he heard something. The rush of massive wings, stone grinding against stone, the sound of massive objects slamming together rapidly, and finally a deafening roar from above. Then, the world faded altogether.

* * *

Dante hovered over the gaping hole in the earth, Trish hovering beside him, holding Lady and Kyrie by the hands. Kyrie had been reluctant to allow Marcus and Nero's body to fall, but Trish hadn't given her an option. Besides, there were other problems. Firstly, Arius. He had come back to life when the seal was opened. Now, he was on the edge of the seal, a massive black demonic lizard of some kind with Arius's head, a massive gaping hole below that with bone spikes across it like Arius's previous form had had, and only front legs, his rear half just a tail currently wrapped around a skyscraper that had survived the summoning circle opening. The next problem was much, much worse than Arius. The Savior, the massive living statue Dante and Nero had worked together to destroy s long ago in Fortuna was floating above the circle, glowing blue orbs, floating chunks of debris, and glowing wings. just as he had been before. Right down to his face being that of Sanctus, rather than the original Savior. Next, was something Dante seemed to recognize. A massive demon formed out of nothing but debris. A massive humanoid made from pieces of shattered ground and obliterated skyscrapers. It had three eyes like Mundus, and Trish knew from the stories that he had once called himself Mundus. But this demon's name was Samael. Lastly, there was the single greatest threat of all. Mundus himself, hovered above even the Savior, glaring down at Dante before grinning.

"It is time for me to spread my armies over the world once again, Son of Sparda," Mundus said. "And it is time for you to die."

With that, he turned, flying away.

"Trish, I'm going to need Sparda," Dante said.

"Right," Trish nodded, turning and flying away with Lady and Kyrie.

As they flew, however, Arius burst out of the ground before them, roaring. No sooner had it appeared, than a white streak crashed down on it. The figure flew back up out of the dust a moment later, a demon with white feathers covering her body and the right half of her face.

"Hello again Lucia," Trish nodded. "Glad you could make it. Lady, help her deal with Arius."

"Right," Lady nodded.

Trish set her down on the roof of a building then turned, flying away with Kyrie. As she did, Dante flew at Samael. Samael raised a hand and swiped at him, several massive chunks of debris flying at him. He flew around them holding his sword out just in time to blast into Samael, tipping him backward. Samael roared in pain, slamming his hand into the ground to catch himself, then swatted at Dante, who leapt out of the way. Dante flew back a bit, putting Rebellion away, then shot forward, crashing into Samael with both fists and both feet, a massive blast of light shooting off. Samael roared in pain, staggering backward several steps before Dante's fist crashed into his upper left arm, a massive explosion of light shooting off of the impact point before the arm fell away, crashing to the ground. Dante spun behind Samael and then blasted into the other arm, not removing it but blasting a crater into it. From there, he drove both hands into it and wrenched them apart, literally ripping the arm off before spinning, smashing the arm into Samael's head, smashing the arm to bits and knocking Samael onto his back.

"I'm a lot stronger than I was last time we met, Samael!" Dante shouted, shooting down at him from above. "Die!"

His fist exploded into Samael's head which exploded, the rest of Samael's body glowing cherry red before exploding.

* * *

Lucia flipped over Arius's tail, then rolled in mid air, avoiding an energy beam. As soon as it ended, the bone spikes began to close over the hole. Lady pulled out Kalina Ann and fired, the rocket slipping between the bone spikes at the last second and then exploding somewhere inside of Arius. He roared in rage, rearing back just before Lucia appeared in front of him, her swords splitting him open along the bottom, Lady filling any exposed opening with bullets instantly. Finally, Lucia flew away from Arius, landing lightly beside Lady and reverting to her true form as Arius began to tip backward.

"Nice," Lady grinned.

Then, Arius fell into the pit, roaring as he fell.

"Alright," Lady said. "Now you need to go and help Dante. He can't fight that thing alone."

"Right," Lucia nodded.

She reentered her devil form and took off toward the Savior, where Dante was struggling to avoid its strikes while destroying the crystals. She flew up beside him and slashed the crystal he was attacking, her strike finally shattering the heavily damaged crystal. Dante nodded to her then sped off, flying at another as Lucia did the same. However, just as she neared hers, Dante crashed into her, bleeding badly.

"Dante?" Lucia gasped, catching him just as Vergil flew into view.

"You should have payed better attention!" Vergil shouted, hurling Rebellion like a javelin.

* * *

Trish flew out over the edge of the circle and stopped. Clearly something had gone wrong. There was a massive chunk of ground that had been blown off of one side of the circle, Lady was lying in a pool of her own blood, though fortunately still alive, and Dante and Lucia were both impaled on Rebellion, sticking into the ground off to one side. She flew over, landing beside them and wrenching the sword out, both groaning in pain and stirring but unable to move.

"What happened?" Trish asked. "When I left you had it under control."

"Vergil," Dante groaned. "Vergil happened."

"Why am I not surprised," Trish sighed, looking around. "How many did you get?"

"I took out Samael, and Lucia got Arius," Dante said. "And we were doing well against the Savior, sort of. But I didn't realize Vergil was on statue guard duty."

Trish nodded before picking the two up carefully.

"Come on," Trish said. "We need to get the three of you to the shop to rest."

"Trish," Dante said. "It'll be all out war."

"We'll deal with it," Trish said. "For now, we need to rest."

Dante nodded and Trish also picked up Lady on the way by, then flew back to the shop where she and Kyrie patched the three wounded Devil Hunters up.

* * *

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	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

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Long Time No See

Marcus's eyes slowly drifted open. Blood red sky, blood red clouds. Yup. Demon World. He looked down. He could move, so either he had died, or he was healing. Judging by the gaping wounds in his chest, he would guess the latter. He looked around, finding himself lying on a large boulder on top of a hill, the katana still clutched in his hand. He groaned, using the sword to stand and to support his weight as he took in his surroundings. The hill was dotted with the large chunks of stone, which he finally realized was debris, not rocks. The debris stretched for a mile or so across, then gave way to dead rotting trees. He spotted both his own sword and Red Queen lying a short distance away and limped over, tying the katana to his belt then putting his own sword on his back and using Red Queen as a crutch. There was no clear way out here. He was trapped. He heard rubble shift behind himself and turned, seeing debris tumbling away from the bounder he had been lying on. Then, the boulder rolled out of the way as well and a massive reptilian demon with Arius's face and blue hide rather than scales rose into the air.

"Arius," Marcus growled. "Terrific. Just die freak."

He extended his spectral arm but Arius's tail knocked it aside. He grumbled, pulling out a pistol and opening fire, the bullets barely making it through Arius's hide. He put the pistol away, beginning to limp forward again, twisting Red Queen's grip. The blade lit up red but it began to fade instantly. He twisted again. More of the blade lit up, but again it began to fade. Once more and the blade was glowing red again. Just as he got it there, Arius shot forward. He leapt at him, Arius moving to go around him only for Red Queen's superheated blade to split his side open. Arius roared in rage as Marcus crashed down, head banging into something pointy and hard. He groaned, holding a hand to his head and lifting the sword unsteadily.

Arius roared again but before it could charge, a blood red laser beam shot over Marcus, hitting Arius in the face and exploding, blasting him into pieces. Marcus turned to look as a woman in boots, short shorts, a brown vest over a grey hooded sweatshirt, a cylindrical object on her back, and a pendant that was really all Marcus recognized of her, walked over to him, Pandora in her hands, now as a briefcase again.

"Welcome back Marcus," the woman greeted him. "You've grown up."

"You haven't aged at all," Marcus said. "I never got your name. Seems kind of rude of me since we were together for six years."

"There was no need," she smiled. "I'm Kat. I saw what happened. I'm glad I found this on the way here to find you."

"So am I," Marcus smiled. "Glad you found me."

He glanced to the side and froze. Nero's upper body was lying a short distance away. He limped over, falling to his knees beside him. Then, he set his forehead on his father's chest, feeling tears flowing from his eyes for the first time in years. Kat remained silent, watching him for several seconds, before kneeling beside him, wrapping her arms around him and letting him cry on her shoulder. After a short while, though, she decided it was time to go.

"Marcus, we have to get out of here," Kat said. "A summoning circle opening, even if it closed shortly after, attracts a lot of attention. We need to leave. Now."

"I can't leave him," Marcus said. "He's my father."

"I'm sorry, Marcus," Kat said. "But we're going to be dead too if we don't leave and get you patched up."

Marcus stared at her for a moment before reaching down and removing a necklace that was around Nero's neck, a black cord with a silver ring pendant that had a red crystal handing from the bottom.

"What is that?" Kat asked.

"Don't know," Marcus said. "I figure Mom will want it back though."

Kat nodded and helped Marcus up, then guided him away from the clearing and into the trees. They walked in silence, Marcus's weight settling more and more onto Kat's shoulders as he grew weaker from blood loss. He was healing slowly, but it wasn't fast enough for him to not bleed, and moving around was making it worse. His healing was slowed. He was weak enough that instead of sealing almost instantly like his wounds should, they were barely healing. Finally, they reached a cave with a strange symbol spray painted onto the ground outside. Kat all but carried Marcus past the symbol into the cave, setting him on his knees in the center.

"Stay here," Kat said. "I've got to bandage your wounds. You're losing too much blood."

Marcus nodded, head feeling light, and waited until Kat returned, kneeling in front of him and shaking a green spray paint bottle. Marcus's senses focused and he shook his head.

"Why do you have spray paint?" Marcus asked.

"It's special," Kat said. "It'll heal you. Or, at least, it'll help you heal faster."

"You're not spray painting my wounds," Marcus said.

"You'll die if I don't," Kat said.

Marcus was silent for a moment before nodding.

"This is going to hurt," Kat said.

Then, she began to spray. She started with the lesser gashes and cuts covering his body from his fight with Vergil. The smallest healed almost instantly upon being sprayed, while some of the others did not. The wound on his shoulder from when Vergil first got his new katana healed, while a deep gash across his abdomen did not. Finally she stopped, giving him a knowing and apologetic look. All that was left was his two massive stab wounds.

"Make it quick," Marcus said.

She nodded and sprayed them, making sure that the paint not only got around it but coated the inside too. Then, she moved to his back, doing the same thing for that side. Throughout the entire process of her spraying the smaller wounds, he had to keep his teeth clamped shut against the pain. The gash in his stomach earned a loud groan. But as she was spraying his stab wounds, he had his hands over his mouth, muffling a scream of agony. Finally she was done and Marcus let his hands fall, panting. His left arm still had a very deep gash in the forearm that reached halfway through, his torso was obviously still heavily wounded, and his upper right arm had a gash in it. She pulled out bandages, giving Marcus an apologetic look.

"Sorry," she said. "I told you it would hurt."

"Hurt is an understatement," Marcus mumbled, Kat sitting on her knees in front of him.

He held one end of the cloth to his abdomen, below the gash, then reached around behind him, having to lean almost against him to reach her other hand behind him and pass the bandage off, Marcus holding the end to his abdomen for her. After a moment, he was able to let the end go and set his hand back down, keeping his arms out enough for her to work, Marcus watching the determination on her face, as well as the worry at seeing how much he was bleeding and the fact that she could see completely through his chest. Slowly, bandages stretched up his abdomen to his chest. She tucked the other end of the bandages under itself and set a new strip against him, Marcus obediently holding it in place while Kat leaned forward again, wrapping the bandages around him a few times before he lowered his hand. She had to shift closer to be able to reach around his chest while still keeping the bandages tight, making it so that their faces were only a few inches from each other each time she leaned forward. She kept her face downward, making sure the bandages didn't miss anything, and he looked to the side where she had five more rolls of bandages waiting. Slowly, bandages reached up his chest, covering his stab wounds, then wrapping over each shoulder. A total of four rolls had to be used on his torso, but she finally finished. She grabbed another roll and lifted his left hand, carefully using a rag to clean the blood away from the gash in his forearm before carefully wrapping it, one of her hands never leaving his. Next, she shifted over to sit beside him as she wrapped his right shoulder. Once she was finally finished, she sat back, inspecting her work before looking at his back, making sure the exit points of the stab wounds were also healed. Then, she sat back, sighing and nodding.

"Done," Kat reported. "Now you should rest. We're going to start heading for the portal tomorrow to get you home."

"What about you?" Marcus asked, leaning back against the wall of the cave, his three swords across his lap. "Will you come with me this time?"

Kat was silent as she slowly packed up her supplies.

"I don't know," Kat finally admitted. "I've ben here a long time. I can't age here. I'm dead. So I can't age. The world's probably changed so much. Everyone I know is probably dead. I don't know if I'd even have a place in that world."

"You would," Marcus said. "You could help run the shop. Arrange us jobs hunting demons."

"I doubt Dante would be content to have me hounding him to keep the shop clean all the time," Kat smiled.

"What did you mean you can't age because you're dead?" Marcus asked. "I did last time I was here."

"It was different for you," Kat said. "You weren't killed normally, your soul was sent here before you were even born."

"I see," Marcus nodded before yawning.

"Rest," Kat smiled. "I'll answer your questions when you wake up. It'll probably be a while before we can make any real progress toward the portal. it'll be a couple days minimum before you're healed."

Marcus nodded then set his head back against the wall of the cave. He watched her through her eyelids, seeing her reach up and wipe her eyes before she curled up into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest and forcing herself to sleep. He sighed quietly, closing his eyes and allowing sleep to claim him as well.

* * *

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	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Slow Travel

Marcus winced as his chest throbbed painfully. They had only been moving for a little over an hour, but already his bandages needed to be changed. Aside from that, he had had to fight off three swarms of giant demonic mosquitoes with one pistol and had yet to make it out of the forest, which should only be a half hour trip. Kat was helping him any time they had to climb over a high root, and was staying at his side in case he got too tired and collapsed, which had happened twice already.

Finally, they stepped out of the trees and gazed out across a massive, flat stretch of desert with no cover anywhere that they could see. Marcus groaned, sitting carefully against a tree and leaning back against it. They would be sitting ducks for any demon that saw them for another three days at the speed they were going.

"I should change your bandages now," Kat said. "We might not get to rest for a while."

"No," Marcus said. "We'll be okay. We may not be able to hide from any demons that want to kill us, but neither can they. If nothing else, we can always turn Pandora into a sniper rifle and pick them off."

Kat nodded and sat beside Marcus, watching him worriedly.

"I'm alright," Marcus said. "Just need to rest a couple of minutes."

Kat nodded and waited in silence. After about half an hour, Marcus forced himself up using Red Queen as a crutch, and they started out across the desert. They travelled mostly in silence, both scanning around for any sign of demons looking for them. Aside from the mosquitoes, the trip so far had been unsettlingly quiet. Usually you couldn't take a hundred steps in the Demon World without meeting a devil. Suddenly, a cloud of sand spiraled up from the ground beside Kat before solidifying into a devil consisting of an emaciated humanoid with a white rag, a white cloth over their eyes, and a scythe held above him, ready to swing. Marcus pushed off with Red Queen, shouldering Kat out of the way just before the scythe split his front open, his bandages falling off as his blood splattered across the ground. The demon pulled its scythe around for a second slash but Marcus grabbed its face with his Devil Bringer, crushing it. The Red Queen remained stuck in the ground as Marcus sank to his knees, coughing up blood and holding a hand to his wound.

"Okay," Marcus groaned. "You can change my bandages now."

Kat moved to stand just as the ground below them cracked. Marcus's eyes widened and he lunged for Kat just as it shattered. As they fell, demonic insects, the same type that had been at the summoning circle Vergil came from, shot past them. Marcus reached out past them, the insects claws shredding at his arm as they passed. Then, his hand closed around Kat's, Kat squeezing his hand instantly, and Marcus held his Devil Bringer up, the spectral hand shooting up through the cloud of insects and grabbing Red Queen, halting their fall as the last of the bugs passed. Marcus looked down, seeing blood pouring out of the gashes on his arm quickly but seeing that Kat was unscathed aside from a scratch in her cheek. He sighed in relief, pulling them up slowly before lifting Kat up onto the ground above first. Then, she helped him climb up before he let his spectral arm fade.

"Are you okay?" Kat asked.

"Yeah," Marcus sighed. "Just a few cuts."

"Don't play tough!" Kat snapped, pulling out her green spray paint and fresh bandages. "At the very least that scythe did a lot of damage."

Marcus remained silent, gritting his teeth as she sprayed his wounds, also taking the time to spray his stab wounds again as well. Then, she carefully re-bandaged all of his wounds, his left arm now bandaged on the forearm from the gash halfway through the forearm as well as also being bandaged on the upper arm for a couple of particularly nasty gashes. Then, she started in on his torso again.

"Thank you," Kat said as she worked. "For saving me. I probably would have died if you hadn't pushed me out of the way."

"I couldn't let you die," Marcus said.

"True," Kat said. "Then you'd be stuck here."

"That's not what I mean," Marcus said. "I don't particularly care about being stuck here. Yeah I want to make sure my mother's okay, and I'd like a rematch against Vergil, but I don't care much about being in the Human World. There's nothing really for me there. Anyone I know who's not Dante or one of his friends thinks that I'm a freak because of my arm. Anyone who doesn't know about it dislikes me because I'm antisocial. Down here it's easy. Anything I see wants me dead. Except you. You're the only person who has been there for me since the beginning, no matter what. I couldn't let you die because I don't want to see you hurt."

Kat smiled, leaning forward to wrap the bandages around his chest again and kissed him lightly on the cheek as she did. He smiled slightly as well as she finished bandaging him.

"You must be cold without a shirt," Kat said.

"We're in the desert," Marcus chuckled. "Tonight maybe, but for now I'm fine."

Kat nodded, smiling, then helped him up, picking up the Red Queen and putting it against her back, smiling when it stayed there, then put his arm around her shoulders, helping bear his weight as they continued. They walked for hours, until whatever passed as the sun in the Demon World began to set and the temperature began to fall fast.

"We need shelter," Kat said, her breath fogging in front of her. "You'll freeze to death if we don't. Hell, I might freeze to death if we don't."

Marcus nodded, extending his spectral arm and smashing a hole in the ground, looking in and seeing that the cavern below reached down about a hundred feet before there was a flat floor. He wrapped his arm around Kat's waist, Kat wrapping both of hers around his shoulders before he used the spectral arm to lower them to the cavern floor. As he let the arm fade, his Devil Bringer glowed brightly, illuminating the cavern. Aside from the hole, there was also a tunnel out on one side, heading in the same direction they had been traveling, and they could hear water from down the tunnel.

"What luck," Kat smiled. "Shelter and water. Should we take the tunnel tomorrow?"

"It'll probably be cold, but yeah," Marcus nodded. "Probably best to use the tunnel."

Kat nodded, setting him against the wall of the cavern before sitting a couple feet away. Marcus tipped his head back, closing his eyes. Within seconds the cold began to get to him, his body trembling slightly, not full-fledged shivers but about to be. Before he could be concerned about that, he heard Kat sniff. He opened an eye, staring at her. She was silent, probably waiting to see if he was still awake. After another moment, she sniffed again, reaching up to wipe her eyes. She was lying on her side in the fetal position again, and again she was crying. Marcus had no idea why, but he didn't care why. She was crying and he somehow felt like it was his fault. After another moment of silence, she sniffed again before a muffled sob escaped her, Kat instantly covering her mouth. Marcus shifted over, lying behind her and wrapping his arms around her, gently pulling her against him. She gasped as he did, looking back at him, worriedly.

"It's cold," Marcus said, seeing a flash of relief cross her face before she nodded and turned her head forward again, settling against him, her warmth soaking into him almost instantly.

After a couple of seconds, he heard and felt her breathing slow as she drifted off to sleep and he smiled, soon following her into unconsciousness.

* * *

Marcus stirred, eyes slowly opening to find that it was day, sunlight drifting through the hole in the top of the cavern. Kat was still lying against him, his arms around her, but she was awake, waiting for him to wake up.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Marcus asked.

"You need as much rest as you can get," Kat replied.

They remained like that for a while, Marcus finding he didn't want her to leave. Finally he pulled his top arm back and Kat pushed herself up, her shirt and vest miraculously free of blood, despite the red stain on his bandages. He pushed himself up slowly, gingerly, and Kat turned to him, undoing his bandages and tossing them aside as she pulled out more paint and fresh bandages. His right arm was fully healed now, along with his left upper arm, but his forearm and torso were still slow to heal. Kat shook her paint and he winced in anticipation.

"Is that really necessary?" Marcus asked.

"It's helping," Kat said. "You're still so weak that you should be healing only slightly faster than a human."

He nodded and clamped his teeth shut as she sprayed his wounds. Then, they started the usual process of her bandaging his wounds. As she worked, Marcus kept his eyes on her face, searching for any sign of why she was crying. She was definitely lost in thought, and looked like there was something bothering her, but he couldn't tell what. Once she was finished, she bandaged his forearm then helped him stand, picking up Red Queen as he retrieved the other two swords. Then, she took his arm over her shoulders and started down the tunnel, the temperature falling from chilly to bitterly cold quickly. At a guess, Marcus would say it was somewhere around thirty degrees. He could feel himself shivering, and obviously so could Kat, since she shifted closer and wrapped her arms around him, trying to keep him as warm as possible.

They continued to walk, both struggling to ignore the cold. As they walked, the sound of water slowly began to grow louder until finally a river fed into the tunnel from the left, filling a deep ditch on their left, taking up half the tunnel, and then flowing alongside them. As they walked, the water forced the temperature down even further, Marcus beginning to shiver badly.

"Maybe we should head back," Kat said.

"It's alright," Marcus said. "I'll get used to it."

"Or you'll freeze to death," Kat said. "Don't be stubborn. You can't survive this kind of cold in only a pair of ruined pants and some bandages."

Marcus shook his head.

"I'll be alright," Marcus said. "Let's just keep going."

Kat looked unsure but nodded, continuing. Marcus wasn't sure how long they walked. It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours. The more tired and cold he got, the less time seemed to make sense. Before he knew it, they had stopped and were sitting against the wall, Kat rummaging through her medical supplies.

"I have an idea," Marcus said, picking up pandora and forming a shoulder-fired laser cannon.

He fired it into the ceiling at an angle, drilling a hole to the surface and letting in the sunlight.

"When we take a break let's do it up there," Marcus said.

Kat smiled at the simple solution and nodded. She wrapped her arms around him, taking Pandora, and he extended his spectral arm, pulling them out of the tunnel. Once outside, they lay in the sun, letting it warm them. After a couple of minutes, Kat helped Marcus back into a sitting position, pulling out more bandages and a spray paint can. She unwrapped his wounds and sighed.

"They're barely healing," Kat sighed. "This is going to take a while to heal."

"We've got time," Marcus said, picking up his pistol, Kat glancing at him.

"I don't want to get slashed again," Marcus said.

Kat smiled and nodded, before spraying his wounds and beginning to bandage them again. Marcus kept his eyes away from her, searching the desert around them as she worked. Just as she finished, sand began to rise all around them. His eyes widened and he grabbed her, throwing them both into the hole, leaving the rest of her spray paint and most of the bandages behind as they fell into the hole a second before dozens of devils with scythes arrived, all slashing where they had been. They tumbled down the hole rapidly, stopping just short of falling when he grabbed her arm and drove the sword Dante had given him into the stone. He let go, instantly catching the sword again with the spectral arm and slowly lowered them to the ground before pulling the sword back to himself and putting it on his back again. Kat hugged him, sighing in relief.

"I guess we're not going back, huh?" Marcus asked.

She shook her head sadly and looked down the tunnel, illuminated by his glowing Devil Bringer.

"How long do you suppose this tunnel is?" Kat asked.

"Long," Marcus said. "Probably all the way across the desert. We'd better get walking."

She nodded and they continued. After a few hours, Marcus's stomach rumbled. He grit his teeth, trying to ignore the sudden ache he had as his hunger made itself known. He hadn't eaten in days. Kat was dead, so she couldn't get hungry, but he needed food. After a few more hours, they stopped, Marcus needing to rest. Kat sat beside him and Marcus yawned.

"Try to rest," Kat said. "Hopefully we can find some food or fish tomorrow, once we're rested."

Marcus nodded, feeling sleep fighting to take him, but the cold denied him rest, his body shaking badly from the cold. He looked over at Kat, curled into a ball as usual, this time to try to stay warm but shaking just as bad as he was. He lay down, pulling her to him and after a moment of surprise, she felt how badly he was shivering and turned toward him.

"Close your eyes," Kat instructed.

He hesitated a moment but then did so, hearing her set Red Queen and her stencil tube aside. Then, he heard a zipper open, then silence. After a moment, he felt her lean into him, feeling the skin of her stomach pressing against him just below the bandages, her bra against his chest. Then, she pulled her sweatshirt down over both of them, covering their heads, upper torsos, and upper arms, since they couldn't get their heads out through the neck hole, and weren't willing to try. It was cramped inside of her sweatshirt, and they were undoubtedly stretching it out, but their combined body heat warmed the inside of the sweatshirt fairly quickly. After a moment, Kat shifted, the side of her head pressing against his chest before she gently tipped him backward, laying him down on her vest. he allowed her go guide him, since she knew where everything was better than him, given he had had his eyes closed, and after a moment, they were lying down with him on his back and her on top of him, his arms around her, holding the sweatshirt as low as he could get it.

"Better?" she whispered.

"Better," Marcus replied, giving her a brief squeeze.

After a couple of minutes, she drifted off, but try as he might, he couldn't. She was lying on his wounds, and it hurt. He wasn't going to say anything, but he couldn't sleep. Finally, after at least an hour, sleep finally claimed him. His sleep was fitful, his dreams filled with images of Vergil's demon form, Dante fighting him, and Nero's body for the first time since it had happened. When he finally awoke, it was to Kat shaking him gently, both still inside the sweatshirt.

"You were having a nightmare," Kat said. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Marcus said. "Thanks."

Kat gave him a worried look but he smiled reassuringly. She nodded and set her head back down and he set his head back, closing his eyes and allowing sleep to take him again, thankfully without dreams this time.

* * *

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	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Healing

Marcus stilled, feeling something shift against his chest. A stab of pain shot through him and he tensed, resisting the urge to attack whatever was against his chest. He was aware of something lying on top of him, and of his arms being wrapped around that could feel their hands resting lightly against his chest and their obviously shirtless body against him. He knew there was something over his upper body, but it took him a full five seconds to remember where he was and who was lying on top of him, and why.

A shiver ran through his body as his body remembered it was cold. He felt Kat stir slightly, also shivering and pressing closer to him. He wrapped his arms more securely around her, wincing as he pulled her tighter against his wounds, though it was less painful now. It seemed he had finally made some progress healing while he slept, which begged the question, how long was he asleep. Kat sighed quietly, her arms slipping around under his shoulder as she did.

"Your hand's really warm," Kat said.

Marcus smiled, running his right hand up her back so that his forearm ran up along her spine to a spot between her shoulder blades where he spread his fingers to cover as much of her back as possible. She sighed contentedly, smiling and tucking her face into the side of his neck.

"We need to get moving," Kat murmured after a little while. "We still need to get to the portal."

"I really don't want to have to take this sweatshirt off," Marcus smiled, Kat laughing slightly and nodding.

"Me neither," Kat said. "It's warm."

Neither tried to move for a while longer before Kat finally sighed heavily and began to sit up, Marcus sitting up as well before she took a breath and lifted the sweatshirt off. Marcus clamped his teeth shut as the sudden rush of cold air hit them, Marcus's eyes instinctively flicking to her body for the barest fraction of a second as her eyes were screwed shut against the cold. In that second, his brain practically memorized her flat stomach, her B cup breasts still contained in her bra, and the goosebumps covering her otherwise smooth skin, marred only by a small white gunshot scar on her left shoulder. Then, Marcus had his eyes averted as Kat pulled her sweatshirt on and opened her eyes. Marcus risked a glance back, seeing her pulling her vest back on.

"Alright," Kat said. "Let's get moving before we freeze to death."

Marcus nodded and used the wall to climb to his feet, Kat putting Red Queen on her back before he had his arms around her again, both leaning into each other to try to regain some of the warmth they had lost. They made their way down the tunnel, Marcus's teeth chattering for a second ever once in a while but otherwise silent. As they walked, Marcus tried to count the steps. After what he thought was somewhere around three miles, they stopped to rest.

"Should we risk the surface again?" Kat asked.

"We need to change my bandages," Marcus said. "And you can't see well enough down here. Plus, I don't want to wear even less than I am now any more than I have to down here."

Kat nodded, turning Pandora into a laser cannon and drilling a way out, Marcus carefully lifting them to the surface with his spectral arm and looking around. It looked clear, no sign of devils anywhere. He lifted them out and sat beside the hole, Kat sitting in front of him and beginning to unwrap his bandages. Once she had finished she gasped then smiled. Marcus looked down, seeing that the gash in his stomach and the one across his chest were both completely healed, leaving only a pair of pearly white scars. his forearm was also healed, also leaving a scar. All that remained were the stab wounds, and those were almost healed compared to the last time they had seen them. They were still wide open and painful, but now they no longer stretched all the way through. They were more like four deep stab wounds rather than two going all the way through.

"Unfortunately, I'm out of paint," Kat said. "And I don't have much left for bandages."

"Just do what you can," Marcus said. "We'll make do."

She nodded, using half of the last of the bandages to cover the wounds, securing them just before a demon appeared behind her. Marcus grabbed her, leaping aside, its scythe cutting into his leg but not doing much damage, barely a scratch even. He landed hard then grabbed Red Queen and stood, readying himself as best he could. The devil leaned back, roaring before appearing behind him, scythe raised.

"Behind you!" Kat warned.

Marcus spun, knocking the scythe aside before splitting the devil in half with Red Queen. The Devil faded and two more appeared. Marcus blocked both scythes at once, gritting his teeth.

"Go!" Marcus growled. "Get underground!"

Kat scrambled up, grabbing her bandages and scrambled to the hole, sliding down the hole instantly. Marcus shoved the blades away then ducked under them and slashed at both devils, both vanishing before he could hit them, only for Marcus to dive, skidding down the hole and landing heavily beside Kat, who was holding her ankle in pain.

"You alright?" Marcus asked.

"Just sprained, I think," Kat said, carefully stretching her leg out in front of her as they looked up at the hole, seeing the devils staring down at them before vanishing. "Why won't they come down here?"

"Maybe they need the sand to teleport," Marcus guessed. "Or maybe they don't like the cold."

She nodded and reached into her pocket.

"Here," she said. "When you got cut it ripped your pocket and this fell out."

She held up Nero's necklace and Marcus felt his pant leg in surprise before accepting the necklace and slipping it over his head. Instantly, it flashed before glowing dully and Marcus groaned, holding his chest as his wounds burned.

"Marcus?" Kat asked, worriedly.

"It hurts!" Marcus groaned, pulling at the bandages.

Kat quickly helped him, unwrapping them quickly until the wounds were exposed and they stared in shock as they steamed, slowly sealing themselves. Within minutes, the wounds were completely sealed and Kat leaned around him to check his back, seeing that those were sealed as well."

"The necklace...healed you?" Kat blinked.

"Oh my God," Marcus breathed. "How?"

"It must be a Nephilim Crystal," Kat breathed. "It's a stone from the Demon World that increases a devil's power and regenerative abilities."

"I see," Marcus nodded. "Guess I'll keep wearing it for a while. If you put it on, would it heal your ankle?"

"I...don't know," Kat said. "Worth a shot, I suppose."

He nodded, taking the necklace off and handing it to her. She put it on and waited, but after several seconds of nothing happening, she sighed, pulling it back off.

"No good," she said.

"Keep it," Marcus said. "That way I know it won't get lost."

She smiled, nodding, and pulled it back on. Then, Marcus stood, handing her Red Queen to put on her back then Pandora before picking her up in a piggy back and beginning to walk away. As he walked this time, the sound of the water running alongside them began to slowly grow louder as the current slowly picked up. He glanced over at it cautiously but it was still blessedly free of any possible water-type devils. It was eery walking somewhere in the Demon world for so long without any devils finding them. Not that Marcus was about to complain. Even if it was cold, it was nice to not be fighting a new enemy every step.

"You alright?" Kat asked after a minute. "You've glanced at the river ten times in the last minute."

"Sorry," Marcus said. "Must be thirty."

Kat nodded, laying her head against him as he kept walking. He _was_ , in fact, thirsty, but knew better than to drink any water in the Demon World. Even for someone dead or part demon, or both, it was basically stagnant. Dead, would be more accurate, if water could die. Finally, Marcus slowed to a stop, staring ahead of them. The path ended with a very high cliff, too heigh for him to lower them down with his Devil Bringer, and ending with a huge but possibly shallow lake at the bottom, several hundred feet below.

"Well, looks like we're going to have to either climb the hard way or risk the surface," Marcus said. "Your call."

"Let's rest here," Kat said. "Even if only for a little while. Then we'll decide when we're ready to move again."

Marcus nodded and sat down, setting Kat in his lap and wrapping his arms around her. She leaned against him but within seconds, she began to shiver. He slipped his Devil Bringer up the back of her sweatshirt, Kat sighing as the warmth radiating off of it reached her more easily. She relaxed against him, eyes fluttering closed. Marcus couldn't help but smile before looking up. Above, they would have to either fight their way through or outrun the Hell Sloths. Not exceptionally hard if he could sprint on his own. With her, he wouldn't be able to outrun them, and there was no telling how many there were. On the other hand, if she tried to climb down, she would fall. And if he did it, his muscles wouldn't hold out the entire way, and he would fall, though from lower. He could try to lower them down using his spectral arm in increments as far as he could, but there was no guarantee his arm would be able to get a grip while falling after he let go the first time. Also, the lake below looked too shallow to cushion a fall, and was giving him a bad feeling to boot.

"You should try to rest too," Kat murmured.

"I'm healed," Marcus said. "You're the one that's hurt now."

Kat smiled and fell silent. Marcus sighed, taking Red Queen from her. Surface it was. Once she was healed enough to move, he took Pandora as well, forming the usual laser and blasting their way out of the tunnel. Then, he picked Kat up on his back, Kat now wearing his own sword as he held Red Queen in his left hand. He looked back at her and she nodded. Then, he raised his Devil bringer, yanking them to the surface and landing at a sprint in the direction they needed to go. As he ran, his eyes scanned everything around them for demons or clouds of sand. He knew they couldn't teleport anyway. They had a distance limit, so they would have to appear somewhere in view before teleporting to them. Which would give him enough of a warning to react. As they ran, nothing moved. No devils appeared, and it was eerily quiet. Even the usual desert wind wasn't blowing.

Marcus held Red Queen tightly in his left hand, Devil Bringer ready to act, but there was nothing to fight. Or so it seemed. Suddenly, there were three Hell Sloths in front of him. He swore, holding up his Devil Bringer, their scythes sparking against it and stopping just shy of his and Kat's heads before he slashed all three, spinning and using Red Queen to block another blade before drawing a pistol and shooting the devil rapidly, killing it. He put the pistol away and turned, continuing to run. Devils began to appear on either side of them rapidly and he pushed himself to sprint faster, their scythes flashing behind Kat, all of them missing. Once he was clear of the hallway of devils, he jumped, Red Queen spinning into the air as he pulled out Pandora, the briefcase becoming a massive three-barreled laser cannon and firing a barrage of them, the explosions obliterating the devils. Then, he switched Pandora to a bracelet and caught Red Queen, landing on his feet and slashing two more devils before sprinting forward again. He looked around, Kat looking behind them, but there was nothing.

"Anything?" Marcus asked.

"No," Kat responded. "There should be more."

"Let's just pretend we got lucky," Marcus said. "We're almost there."

Just then, several dozen demons began to burst out of the ground. They were all lizards, wearing metal helmets with shields and ridiculously long claws on their free hands. As if that wasn't bad enough, several Kyklopses broke free from the ground behind them, their stone spider bodies standing level with the massive lizards. Then, several Nobodies broke out of the ground, all of them small for a moment before the grotesque slime arm growing out of their backs put a mask on each, their bodies growing rapidly to triple their original size.

"They're huge," Marcus breathed.

"That's a lot of demons," Kat breathed.

"Yeah," Marcus agreed. "Hang on tight."

She clung to him as he reached over to Red Queen, twisting the handle, the blade glowing cherry red as the demons began to close in. His eyes swept the line. This wasn't right. They were too organized. To ready. Hell Nobodies weren't even supposed to exist in this region of the Demon World. And Blades and Kyklopses never worked together. They hated each other.

"Kat, whatever happens, don't let go of me."

Kat squeezed tighter and Marcus dropped to one knee, driving his sword into the ground, cracks shooting outward from the impact point before the ground below them shattered. They fell fast, Kat instantly being thrown off of him by the initial jerk of falling. He instantly put Red Queen on his back, angling his body so that he flew toward her. He looked down, seeing an obviously very deep lake rushing up toward them. The only problem was that at that distance, even a demon would be killed on impact, water or no. He couldn't reach Kat in time. He held out his Devil Bringer, his spectral arm shooting out and grabbing her, yanking her to him and he caught her in a hug.

"Wrap your legs around me!" He shouted and she did as instructed.

Then, he formed Pandora into a laser cannon, firing straight down. A moment later, an explosion sent a massive geyser of water shooting up at them, hitting him with all the force of a semi but slowing their fall enough that when they reached the water, they slowed to a stop before surfacing, both of Marcus's legs broken without a doubt. Kat began to swim for them, holding him above the water, barely, then looked around. Marcus raised his Devil Bringer, the light shining across the water to a tiny island a short distance away and Kat began to swim toward it. When she reached it, she dragged them both out of the water just as a massive spined fin began to circle the small island. Marcus forced himself to look down, aiming Pandora, which was still a massive cannon, at the fin as it shot toward them and a massive spear-headed fish leapt out, its massive jaw open to swallow the entire island. Instead, Marcus fired and the laser blasted straight through, the entire fish exploding.

"I'm tired," Marcus said. "Go away fish."

He let Pandora turn back into a bracelet and lay back, groaning.

"H-Here," Kat stammered, shivering badly as she took off the necklace and handed it to him.

It shone even brighter than the last time and his legs began to release a series of loud cracks and pops, accompanied by Marcus shouting in pain. Then, there was a hissing sound and he groaned, lying back down before sighing.

"Done," Marcus groaned. "Put it back on. I want to try something."

Kat looked curious but put the necklace on before Marcus sliced his palm on Red Queen's blade and wiped the blood on the crystal. It glowed for a moment before Kat shouted in surprise and pain. Then, she grit her teeth, her face screwing up in pain and concentration for a moment before she relaxed, massaging her now healed ankle.

"It w-worked," Kat said. "And I n-never w-want that t-to happen a-again."

"Agreed," Marcus nodded. "This job sucks."

He took his sword back from Kat, the sword shapeshifting into a pair of gauntlets which lit on fire. He held them on either side of Kat for about a minute then changed them back into a sword, Kat feeling her now dry and warm clothes.

"Why didn't you do that before?" Kat asked.

"Keeping them on fire like that is both painful and exhausting," Marcus said before yawning. "Crap. I was hoping that I'd last longer than that."

"You need rest," Kat said before looking at him, able to see him shaking like a leaf even from a distance. "And you need to warm up."

"We I'm definitely not taking off my wet clothes," Marcus mumbled, barely awake.

"Good," Kat smirked. "I can only take being traumatized so many times in a day."

She grinned but he only managed a weak chuckle, head bobbing in his attempt to stay awake. She sighed, quickly taking off her vest and laying it behind him then pulling her sweatshirt off, straddling his waist and pulling it back on, covering both of them again. His arms snaked around her, tugging the sweatshirt down a little more before holding her against him as he lay back on the vest, as he had before. She rested her head on his chest and within seconds he was asleep.

"I guess you really were tired," Kat smiled, yawning. "Sleep well, Marcus. We've got a very long day ahead of us."

Then, she closed her eyes and drifted off as well.

* * *

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	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Admission

Marcus stirred slowly, mind fighting to remain asleep, to continue enjoying that blissful feeling of denying that the world existed. He wanted to stay exactly where he was. He wanted to just lay on that tiny island in the middle of a demon-infested lake somewhere in the Demon World, wrapped up in Kat's sweatshirt and holding her in his arms forever. He wanted nothing more than to forget the world, and just live in those moments when he could inhale and smell nothing but her from all around him, feeling her arms wrapped around under his shoulders, her face nuzzled into the side of his neck, her breaths slow and even.

But he couldn't. The peace of unconsciousness began to slip away. The pains of hunger and dehydration and cold began to filter back in. He could feel the frostbite in his feet. The nerve damage already present there that he wouldn't be surprised if his father's necklace couldn't touch it. He knew that Kat, even if she was already dead, probably was fairing even worse than him. He needed to get her someplace warm where they could rest without needing to huddle inside of her sweatshirt for the sole purpose of surviving. Where they could test his necklace's effectiveness against frostbite. He sighed, gently and carefully slipping out of Kat's sweatshirt, having long ago decided that no one would ever find out they had used it in place of a sleeping bag. If anyone asked, they fought their way through a constant horde. There was no cuddling, or freezing to death, or nearly drowning in a lake because he was too afraid to fight a handful of devils. Just one long slaughter fest all the way to the portal. He gently lifted her into a sitting position, pulling her vest onto her and zipping it closed then putting both his sword and Red Queen across his back before standing. He looked out at the lake, turning in the direction they needed to head, then transformed Pandora into a gauntlet, designed to freeze water.

He knelt, setting the gauntlet on the surface of the water, ice shooting out from it, the lake freezing with a long string of snaps and pops that grew louder as the ice extended outward. Then, it was over and Pandora returned to its bracelet form as he picked up Kat, who shifted and mumbled something in her sleep. Once she was settled, he started out, sprinting across the top of the ice, eyes scanning for anything unpleasant. Nothing came, so he continued running. Then, finally, he reached a tunnel away from the lake, a warm breeze blowing out of it. Kat sighed as the breeze reached them and he started up the tunnel, reaching a ruin quickly. The ruin was a massive city with a huge tower in the center, something that Kat had called Temen-ni-gru last time. the tower was in shambles, but he still remembered Kat warning him against going near it. He wasn't really sure why she had bothered, since he had never left her side as a child when she was saving him, but then, he didn't know why she taught him so much about the Demon World either, like what demons should be where. For example, this area would have living statues, living puppets, and a small army of living cages in the shapes of tall humanoids with swords.

Marcus ducked into the first relatively intact building he could find, transforming his sword into a pair of three-bladed shuriken just as two puppets and a walking cage stepped out of the shadows. he hurled the shuriken, the blades blasting through the puppets before curving around and both shredding through the cage which crashed to the ground, Kat jumping and snapping awake at the sound, Marcus catching his blades.

"Sorry," Marcus said. "I meant to keep that quiet."

Kat looked around in surprise then up at him as he turned the shuriken back into his sword and set it and Red Queen aside.

"May I see the necklace?" he asked.

She nodded, taking it off and handing it to him before gasping as she spotted his feet, both a dark purple and the tips of his toes having started toward grey.

"Don't worry," he said, putting on the necklace and grimacing as the color retreated, his feet turning an angry red before the color faded back to normal. "I'm fine now. And no more cold naps."

She smiled, nodding and he cut his palm, wiping it on the necklace before slipping it over her head, the gem glowing slightly as she gasped and held her feet, gritting her teeth.

"I thought so," he said. "It'll be over in a second."

For the second time, his blood was absorbed into the necklace and Kat healed. Then, it was over and the necklace's light faded.

"Thank you," she smiled, looking around. "We're in the city right?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Just got here."

She nodded and stood, Marcus picking up his swords and putting his on his back.

"The portal shouldn't bee too far," Kat said. "Just up the stairs on the far side."

"Right," Marcus nodded. "But that said, we still have to make it through the city first."

Kat nodded and Marcus handed her Pandora.

"I might need some backup this time," Marcus smiled and she returned it, nodding.

Then, Marcus turned, silently walking out of the building with Kat behind him, briefcase in hand. They made their way silently through the street, but once again everything seemed eerily quiet and devoid of devils. Marcus glanced at Kat, who nodded, agreeing with his assessment. Probably another trap. Still they made their way onward. A walking cage burst out of the wall beside Marcus but he split it in half instantly, then stopped, waiting and looking around. nothing. He looked to Kat, seeing her holding a bow with a string and arrow made out of raw energy. He grinned. It seemed somehow fitting. He turned, continuing down the street with Kat just behind him, eyes scanning, Devil Bringer ready. A small armor of devils, and yet they had seen only four. Finally Marcus stopped, Kat stopping beside him.

"There's a courtyard up ahead," Marcus said. "Perfect ambush point."

"Is there another way?" Kat asked.

Marcus picked up a stone and hurled it over a building only for a red barrier to flare up, blasting the stone into rubble instantly.

"No," Marcus said. "We're definitely being funneled. Kat, when this fight starts, I want you to take cover. I'll keep their attention, but I want you to stay hidden."

"What if they have any ranged fighters?" Kat asked.

"Let me handle it," Marcus said. "I can handle this. But only if I know you're safe."

Kat nodded and Marcus took a breathe before striding into the courtyard, Kat remaining just inside, eyes scanning. Marcus stopped in the center, looking around.

"Well?" he called. "What are you scared? Come on out! Let's get this over with already!"

Silence. Marcus felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. They should be neck deep in devils. They should have been for most of their trip, even in the tunnel. Something had to be very wrong for there to be none. He motioned for Kat to join him and she jogged over, slowing to a stop at his side. He looked around one last time before walking toward the street leading out on the far side, Kat just behind him. They followed the street quietly, Marcus's nerves now officially fried.

"Something's horribly wrong here," Marcus said. "We should be swimming in devils, so where the hell are they?"

"I don't know," Kat said. "But, maybe this is a blessing. We may be able to get to the portal without any more fighting."

"I hope so," Marcus grumbled.

They continued through the street in silence. Marcus didn't like it. He found he actually wanted to fight, just to get it over with and stop having to wait. After what had to be three hours with not a single devil attacking, Marcus finally ducked into a building, sitting down with his pistols in his lap and glaring at the door. Kat sat beside him, giving him a worried look.

"It's probably my devil blood, either being this close to Temen-ni-gru, or the lack of any sort of violence, or both," Marcus said.

"That's fair," Kat nodded. "You need to relax. If not you'll kill yourself from anxiety before we find any devils."

Marcus sighed, taking a breath and leaning back against the wall, closing his eyes. He began to fidget almost instantly, thumbs rubbing the sides of his guns and trigger fingers tracing the trigger guard. After a moment, Kat leaned on his shoulder, pulling his arms around her, his pistols remaining on the ground beside him.

"Tell me about the world outside," Kat said. "I've been here so long, I'm sure everything's changed."

"Probably," Marcus nodded. "Well, tell me about the world when you...left."

"Awful," Kat said. "Limbo City had just been destroyed, for starters. Humans were only jut starting to be able to see demons."

"Jeez, that was about sixty years ago," Marcus mused. "Is Dante really that old now? I'd have never guessed."

"Sixty years?" Kat blinked. "I see. The world _must_ have changed, then."

"Well, for starters, demons aren't as much a prominent threat anymore," Marcus said. "For the most part, scattered devil hunters are able to keep them in check, mostly. However, sometimes things happen that cause massive demon problems, like the summoning circles bullshit that landed me here this time. Let's see...Well, Dante's old. Him and his friends run a business called Devil May Cry that hunts devils all over. My mom and dad are from the Fortuna branch. There's also some chick named Lucia in a different country. At least, I think that's what Dante said."

"I see," Kat nodded, smiling. "I'm glad Dante did something productive. When I left, I was afraid he'd fall back into his depression and lose faith in the world."

"He seems pretty happy to me," Marcus said. "He's always hitting on Lady and Trish. And I'm pretty sure him and Trish are secretly together, or at least, close to it."

Kat nodded slowly and Marcus felt his stomach rumble.

"God I'm hungry," Marcus sighed. "I could really go for some pizza."

Kat covered her mouth, giggling.

"What?" Marcus asked.

"You remind me of Dante," Kat smiled. "He used to be obsessed with pizza."

"Still is," Marcus snorted. "I'm pretty sure it's all he eats. Pepperoni, sausage, salami, and green peppers, every time."

"Really?" Kat blinked. "He used to hate green peppers. He'd call me weird any time I ordered it."

"Huh," Marcus shrugged. "Loves it now. Throws a temper tantrum if there aren't any on it."

Kat smiled and shook her head.

"Yeah, I can imagine," Kat smiled. "You kind of remind me of Vergil too."

"How?" Marcus asked. "I'm nothing like that mother fucker. I don't murder family. I don't work for demons, kill innocent people, or enjoy seeing people in pain."

"He wasn't always like that," Kat said, face sad. "Actually, he used to be a great man. He was caring, and brave. He would give anything to protect the people around him. But he was overconfident, and trusted his own abilities too much. He thought too highly of himself."

"What happened to change him?" Marcus asked.

"Honestly?" Kat asked. "He was protecting me. He saved my life when I was young, and then took me in, teaching me about demons and the Demon World. Eventually, we started to be...attracted, to each other, I suppose. But before anything could come of it, he erased our memories of the attraction, blocking it. As an unintended side effect, he began to look down on humanity, seeing them as worthless, and seeing me as nothing more than a tool. In the end, he intended to rule over Humanity alongside Dante, but Dante was different. Dante truly loved humanity. While Vergil aligned with his devil side, Dante aligned with his human side. So they fought. And Dante won. Vergil was banished to Hell where he let his humanity go in exchange for power. Then, he returned and killed me as revenge on Dante. I would assume that Dante beat him, but he must have gained a new strength since then. Truthfully, you're stronger than Dante was when I died, so if he could beat you, he would have had to have grown much stronger."

"Dante said something about Vergil working for a demon named Mundus at one time," Marcus said.

"The King of the Demon World," Kat nodded. "That would make sense."

Marcus nodded as Kat sighed.

"You really are so much like them," Kat said. "Both of them. But you're different too. Neither of them is cautious, and neither truly respects the fact that they could lose. Dante is too cocky, and Vergil too overconfident. You're not. You know you have limits, and you don't push them. That's both good and bad. If you don't push them you can't get stronger, but if you do you are less likely to die. And unlike both, you don't want to be a devil hunter. You just want to be human. You've only ever wanted to be human."

"How do you know that?" Marcus blinked.

"You were talking in your sleep the first night," Kat said. "You said you didn't want your arm, or your devil blood. And you said something about always being the freak."

"Yeah," Marcus sighed. "That was probably about being alone."

"Alone?" Kat asked. "I take it you didn't inherit Dante's playboy nature?"

"No," Marcus said.

"The girls don't like you?" Kat asked.

"Actually, they do," Marcus said. "I could ask out just about any girl in any college and get a date. The problem only arises when they find out about my arm or if a demon attacks. Then I'm instantly a freak."

"You're not a freak," Kat said, taking his Devil Bringer in her hands. "You're not. You're special. You have an amazing gift."

"I never wanted it," Marcus said.

"And I never wanted to be here," Kat said. "But because of it I was able to save your life twice. And I was able to see the man you grew into after I raised you for six years."

"You're not going to tell me I'm like a son to you are you?" Marcus asked.

Kat laughed, shaking her head.

"No no, nothing like that," Kat smiled.

"Good," Marcus smiled. "I already have a mother. And I wasn't exactly the best son. What about you? What were your parents like?"

Kat's face fell and she stared at the ground.

"My father died when I was still young," Kat said. "I can't remember him. My mother remarried but it turned out he was a devil. He killed her then once she was gone he would...attack me...at night."

"Oh my god," Marcus breathed, covering his mouth. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"It's alright," Kat smiled. "It was a long time ago. And anyway, that was what Vergil saved me from. He taught me to escape, then later taught me what I needed to know to kill my stepfather."

"I see," Marcus sighed. "I kind of wish there were some of the old him left then. I would like to meet that version of him."

Kat nodded.

"So, what's the first thing you're going to do when we get back?" Marcus asked.

Kat looked up at him surprised before staring at the ground in silence.

"Oh come on, there's gotta be something," Marcus said.

"I...I think I want ice cream," Kat said.

"Ice cream huh?" Marcus grinned. "Ice cream sounds pretty good right about now. Tell you what, how about when we get out of here, I buy us both some?"

Kat stared at him in shock before smiling and nodding. He smiled and nodded.

"Good," Marcus smiled as a tear slid down Kat's cheek and he wiped it away. "Now, tell me why it is that you've been crying yourself to sleep every night."

Kat's eyes widened before more tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"You can't go through the portal can you?" Marcus asked.

"No," Kat said, shaking her head. "My spells only work on those with devil blood. That's why I had to leave you alone when you left the Demon World."

"There has to be a way," Marcus said. "Maybe if you're wearing the necklace-"

"It won't work," Kat said. "The necklace only responds to devil blood. On me it's just a necklace unless you bleed on it."

"So what then?" Marcus asked. "I'm just supposed to forget about you and leave you here, again?"

"Yes," Kat nodded. "You belong in the Human World. I belong here. I'm dead. You're not."

"I don't care, Kat," Marcus said. "I'm not leaving you behind again. We'll find a way."

"There is no other way!" Kat sobbed. "I've tried everything! Believe me, I have! I've tried everything. I can never leave this place."

"Kat," Marcus said, cupping her cheek and making her look up at him. "I'm going to get you out of here. I promise. I'm not leaving you."

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Kat sighed, taking his hand and holding it in her lap. "There is no portal out of here that can accept someone without devil blood."

"We'll find one," Marcus promised.

"How do you know?" Kat asked.

"Because I won't leave until we do," Marcus smiled.

"Why?" Kat asked. "Why are you so desperate to save me?"

"You've saved me more times than I can count," Marcus smiled, his free hand reaching up to brush her tears away.

Then, he leaned forward slowly, giving her more than enough time to pull away if she wanted. Finally, his lips met hers and she sighed, her arms wrapping around his neck, pulling him closer as she kissed him back. His arms wrapped around her back and they remained like that for a long while. Finally, Kat pulled away, fresh tears spilling down her face.

"I'm sorry, Marcus," Kat said. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Done what, kissed me?" Marcus asked. "I kissed you first."

"But I should have stopped you," Kat said. "It's just going to make it harder when I have to-"

"You're _not_ staying behind, Kat," Marcus interrupted. "We'll figure something out."

Kat stared at him before shaking her head slowly and staring at the ground. He opened his mouth to speak just as a massive roar rang out, soon joined by hundreds more. Marcus was on his feet with his weapons instantly, Kat joining him a second later.

"Looks like it's finally starting."

* * *

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	11. Chapter 11

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Father and Son

Marcus looked out through the doorway and down the street where a massive army of devils was approaching. Some were even going so far as to crawl along the walls.

"There are so many," Kat breathed.

"Kat, we're going to need something bigger than that bow," Marcus said as he stepped forward. "Stay behind me. And whatever you do, don't stop firing."

Kat nodded, Pandora transforming into a massive machine gun consisting of six sets of barrels, each set having six and each set both spinning for itself as the sets all rotated around. She opened fire immediately, her bullets shredding their way through the devils, Marcus standing beside her, pistols out and firing rapidly as a massive glowing blue silhouette behind him fired spinning spectral blades into the ranks of devils. They dropped fast, dying almost too fast to make progress. However, they slowly did begin to advance. A devil that looked like a misshapen rag doll with a massive curved blade for an arm leapt at her, the blade extending behind it as it fell toward Kat. However, just as it twisted, slashing, Marcus's silhouette's right hand caught it and crushed it then hurled its blade into the army, the blade tearing through a dozen or so. The narrow street helped, since it kept the demons from easily surrounding the, but it also made it so that the living devils could use the dead ones' bodies as shields to advance further until the body either disintegrated or the bullets began to go through them. Finally, the devils had gotten too close for comfort.

"Back!" Marcus shouted, Kat lifting Pandora, the gun collapsing instantly.

For a half second, the devils surged forward only for Marcus's silhouette's fist to crash into the ground, sending a wave of Demonic Energy exploding along the ground, tearing it up as it travelled, blasting waves upon waves of demons into oblivion before a massive explosion shot out of the ground, killing still more and hurling the rest backward. Then, the silhouette faded and Marcus leapt backward to Kat as she put down a massive wall of barrels and glowing lines in front of herself. He drew his guns, both suddenly lighting up with blue Demonic Energy and he grinned.

"Fire!" He shouted.

He opened fire, each bullet he fired now charged with his Demonic Energy, tearing through numerous devils before stopping now. At the same time, Kat's wall of barrels began to rapidly fire lasers, the explosions and lasers blasting through the army. Marcus grinned but it faded instantly as devils exploded out a building behind them.

"Keep shooting!" Marcus shouted, spinning and swapping his guns for Red Queen, charging into the flood of demons, sword flashing around and around, tearing through them as it went, his Devil Bringer either punching them directly and sending them flying or using its spectral arm to blast them into debris or crush and throw them.

He grit his teeth as a blade tore into his side, forcing himself to move faster. Then, a massive metal fist crashed into his jaw, throwing him back to Kat just as the devils surged after him. Before they could get there, there was a flash of blue and the street exploded in a wave heading away from them. Marcus stood, staring in awe as the dust cleared and Nero turned to smile back at him, his eyes glowing red and his silhouette ready to strike.

"Dad," Marcus breathed before hurling Red Queen past Nero, splitting a devil that was about to slash him.

Nero caught the sword in his Devil Bringer, spinning it a couple of times and grinning.

"You know, I've never tried it like this," Nero smiled. "Let's try it out shall we?"

He turned back to the devils, slashing and sending an arc of Demonic Energy tearing along the ground until it exploded through the devils. Then, he switched the sword to his other hand in time to catch Yamato, the sword glowing and being absorbed by his Devil Bringer.

"I figured you should have that back," Marcus said, drawing his own sword and spinning it as the sword glowed white and transformed into a scythe. "Kat has your necklace right now or I'd give that back too."

"The necklace is yours," Nero said. "Meant to be a gift to my son from Dante, but...well."

Marcus nodded, looking back to see that Kat had her side of the battle more than under control with her laser minigun wall. He smiled, turning back to the fight before him and beginning to spin his scythe in his hands.

"Can you keep up Dad?" Marcus grinned.

"Easily," Nero grinned.

"Kat," Marcus said. "That's enough. Come over her and get between us."

Kat retreated to stand between them, clearly unsure, but Marcus turned, standing between her and the devils she had been slaughtering a moment before. Then, both his and Nero's silhouettes flared to life, Nero's now wielding Yamato and Marcus's spinning a massive scythe identical to his own. The devils on both sides charged and both devil hunters began to shred them, Marcus and his silhouette's scythes mowing down anything that got close enough while Nero's silhouette was slashing rapidly with Yamato, massive arcs of energy shooting out of each strike while spinning spectral blades appeared over its shoulders and went flying into the army of devils, Nero himself fighting using Red Queen in his Devil Bringer, also sending out arcs of energy with each swing, and Blue Rose in his left hand, each shot charged with his Demon Energy.

Kat watched the two in awe as devils exploded into ash and scraps of metal on all sides, far too fast to keep track of. Suddenly, somehow, there was a devil beside Marcus. She hadn't even noticed it, hadn't been able to see it coming through the pieces of dead devils. However, before it could make a move, Marcus's scythe split it up the middle before returning to the devils before him, as though he had had that move planned out the entire time. Kat turned, looking back at Nero just as two devils appeared beside him, only fore him to split one with Red Queen while shooting the other in the face. Kat turned back to Marcus as several Nobodies suddenly leapt over him.

"Where the hell are you going?" Marcus snarled, spinning, his scythe splitting all of them in half before he was facing the rest of the devils again, a massive disk of energy shooting out of the blade, leveling dozens of them. "How you holding up Dad?"

"Walk in the park," Nero chuckled. "You?"

"It's almost challenging enough to be fun," Marcus smirked, twirling his scythe and sending a handful of devils flying into the air. "We'll be finished in no time."

Don't get your hopes up," Nero snorted. "Remember, we still have to fight an army."

"Piece of cake," Marcus smirked.

As if on cue, the devils all backed off, stopping a ways away on both sides. Then, they fled into side alleys, disappearing.

"Okay, that's probably not good," Marcus said, letting his silhouette fade and holding a hand to his head. "Ow. That was weird."

"You okay?" Kat asked.

"No," Marcus said. "Using that power makes me enjoy fighting too much. Makes me want to kill. I don't like it."

"You learn to control it after a while," Nero said. "But the bloodlust never really goes away. It's demonic power at its most powerful, so it's to be expected. Dante, Trish, and I try not to use that power unless absolutely necessary."

Marcus nodded just as the city trembled. He and Nero glanced at each other before Marcus picked up a stone, hurling it over a building, no barrier appearing this time. Instantly, Marcus picked up Kat and used his Devil Bringer to pull them to the roof, Nero following suit. Once they were on the roof of the building, they saw that the earth quake was from Temen-ni-gru. The tower had glowing red lines running up its sides and a light shining at the top.

"What is that?" Marcus asked.

"It's a portal," Nero said. "Dante once mentioned that there was a portal in Temen-ni-gru but he said it needed both his and Lady's blood to work."

"So, either both are here and want out, or someone found another way," Marcus stated.

"Right," Nero nodded.

"Can that portal allow a human through?" Marcus asked.

"I'm not sure," Nero said. "Possibly."

"Close enough," Marcus said. "Let's go. We need to get there before whoever opened it closes it again."

"Right," Nero nodded.

Marcus stepped in front of Kat, kneeling and she climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and hooking her legs around his waist.

"Alright," Marcus said. "Let's go!"

He and Nero took off at a sprint, leaping from one roof to the next, both keeping their swords ready. As they reached the tenth rooftop, a demon that looked like a mash up of a dozen different dolls, all of the pieces misshapen and incorrectly sized, making it look like a sumo wrestler with a porcelain baby doll's head and hands that were spiked clubs, along with short stubby legs.

"Well well," Marcus grumbled. "The big guy wants to play. Kat, hang on tight."

Kat squeezed a little tighter as Nero and Marcus charged. The things hands lit on fire and it held them in front of itself, charging them. Nero dodged around it but as Marcus drew near, he dropped to a knee, sliding past it and slamming his sword into its knee as that leg swung forward. The demon crashed to the roof as Marcus slid to his feet and held out his Devil Bringer, grabbing the demon's exposed spine and ripping it out, the rest of the demon exploding.

Then, they were off again. They leapt from roof to roof rapidly. However, after a few more buildings, the far half of one suddenly exploded as they landed on it, several demons with porcelain-like bodies, similar to the fat one but skinny now and only as tall as Marcus was, and with their right arms ending in a hinge with a blade attached and being held behind their arm, the edge curved and the back edge with saw teeth, landed on the roof ahead of them, Nero and Marcus slowing to a stop.

"Elite Stygians," Nero said, readying Red Queen.

"Kat, get down," Marcus said.

Kat did as instructed and Marcus moved his sword to his Devil Bringer, spinning it twice before it shone and transformed into an axe. The Stygians charged and Nero and Marcus met their charge, Nero speeding on ahead and slashing his way through some of them. Two ignored him completely, in favor of Marcus, however, when they reached him, he leapt over the first one's blade, bringing his axe down on the other's head, killing it. Then, he spun, swinging the axe upward and burying it in the first one. He continued the swing, lifting the Stygian over his head before snapping the axe backward, the Stygian flying off of it and crashing into a group of them as Marcus's sword transformed into its shuriken form. He spun, hurling both and they tore through the group of Stygians before curving around and tearing back through before returning to him. He caught them, instantly flipping into the air as a Stygian passed under him, his shuriken shining and fading, leaving his sword. He landed on his feet then streaked forward, sword bisecting the Stygian. He looked to Nero just as Nero's Devil Bringer sent the last one flying.

"Done," Nero said. "Let's go."

Marcus nodded, kneeling and allowing Kat to instantly climb onto his back before they took off across the rooftops again. This time, when they were interrupted eleven buildings later, it was by a flaming centaur with a bull's head and a massive sword made out of cherry red rock smashing through the building then skidding to a stop, leveling three more.

"Friend of yours?" Marcus asked.

"That's Berial," Nero said. "He was at the warehouse."

"Oh yeah," Marcus said. "All hot air."

He sent out his spectral arm but Berial slashed it aside.

"Not this time!" Berial snarled. "I'm going to make you pay for Making me look bad!"

"We'll see," Marcus said as Kat climbed off, Nero stepping forward to protect her. "I'll deal with him."

Nero nodded and Marcus sprinted forward, leaping off of the building at Berial, slashing at him. Berial raised his sword, blocking it and shoved Marcus high into the air. As Marcus fell, Berial slashed at him. Marcus smirked, rolling out of the way then pulled his sword back.

"Bad move!" Marcus shouted as he split Berial down the front. "Now you're dead."

Berial staggered backward, his flames going out then collapsed as Marcus turned back toward Nero and Kat.

"Watch out!" Kat shrieked.

Marcus spun, raising his sword just in time for Berial's to crash into it, hurling him backward. Marcus flipped, driving his sword into the ground as Berial roared, flames exploding to life on him once more.

"This guy doesn't quit," Marcus growled. "Alright, fine. Let's see what you can do!"

He sprinted forward, Berial charging as well. When they met, however, Berial slashed and Marcus's spectral arm caught it. It shoved the blade upward and punched Berial, sending him blasting through a building, Berial's flames going out as he did. Then, Marcus appeared over him, his spectral arm holding a spectral replica of his sword before it split Berial's torso diagonally. Berial roared, flames reconnecting him and exploding to life all over his body only to go out again when Marcus's spectral sword buried itself in his face. Then, Marcus used his Devil Bringer to pull himself back to the others and sighed, kneeling for Kat.

"That wasn't so bad," Marcus said. "Come on. We're getting close, at least."

Kat nodded and climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around him again, and Marcus and Nero took off once more.

* * *

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	12. Chapter 12

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Taken

Nero landed first, skidding to a stop as he reached the base of the tower and slashing the two demons guarding the door. A moment later, Marcus skidded to a stop beside him, Kat climbing down from his back.

"Made it, finally," Marcus sighed. "Now, how do we get up to the top? I don't exactly favor the idea of climbing the inside of it. Or the outside, for that matter."

"We've got to go inside," Nero said, turning to the door. "Come on."

Just as they stepped toward it, five devils that looked like metal statues with eye-shaped heads and three metal bows each landed in front of them, each bow with a glowing energy arrow already drawn back.

"Down!" Marcus shouted, Nero diving to the ground as Marcus tackled Kat out of the way, two arrows punching through his left shoulder as he did.

He growled in annoyance, pushing himself up then darted forward, slashing three while Nero smashed the fourth into the last with his spectral arm. Marcus inspected his shoulder and grit his teeth as he tried to move his arm and pain flared through his shoulder.

"Here," Kat said, holding out the necklace. "I think you'll need this more than me."

Marcus nodded, pulling the necklace on, his shoulder healing instantly, then sighed, rollin it a couple of times before looking to the tower again.

"Let's get this over with," Marcus said. "I hate this place already."

They walked inside, stopping as they saw the level of destruction inside. A statue had been destroyed past the point of recognition and scattered around the room. The stairs on either side of where the statue was supposed to be, which led up to the only remaining door, were now scattered around the room. The right side of the room had debris blocking the door and the left side of the room was completely gone, revealing a massive chasm below the tower.

"What the hell happened in here?" Marcus wondered aloud as they walked toward the door.

"Dante said that the tower was heavily damaged when the portal opened, but I think this might be from demons fighting each other in here," Nero said.

They reached the raised section and Marcus wrapped an arm around Kat, using his spectral arm to lift both of them to the door, finding it hanging off its hinges. He reached out, placing a hand against the door and it tipped away from him, crashing to the ground with a resounding boom. Nero landed beside Marcus, giving him an exasperated look and Marcus shrugged. Then, the three of them followed the hallway on the other side of the door to a large round room. As they stepped into it, several more Elite Stygians burst out of the ground before a devil with a dark green upper body and yellow lower legs holding a chainsaw burst up behind them.

"Ravager," Nero said, readying the Red Queen. "They're ridiculously annoying."

"Good to know," Marcus said. "Kat, blast it."

Kat fired an arrow at the Ravager but a Stygian blocked it as Kat raised the bow, Pandora expanding into a massive sphere with controls on one side and a lense on the other. Kat allowed it to fall to the ground and squeezed, a massive blood red laser shooting out and hitting both the Ravager and the Stygian that had protected it. The stairs on either side of the Ravager exploded into debris as the laser and the Ravager crashed into the wall, the laser exploding and cratering the wall. When the smoke cleared, however, the Stygian was dead but the Ravager was still standing.

"It _is_ annoying," Marcus agreed, sending out his spectral arm to crush the Ravager only for the Ravager to knock the hand away with his chainsaw. "Alight fine. We'll do it your way."

He and Nero sprinted forward, the large group of Stygians splitting between the two. Marcus had a group of seven, and smirked. Perfect. The first slashed at him and he sidestepped the blade, splitting it up the front then spinning past it and stabbing backward into it. Then, he ripped his sword out, the sword transforming into a scythe as he did. The Stygian he had stabbed fell to the ground and began to burn away into ash as Marcus began to spin his scythe from side to side rapidly, the blade shredding the next Stygian as he did. Finally he spun, jumping as the blade sliced through the Stygian again and again as he spun. Once he was in the air, he flipped, the scythe becoming a pair of shuriken again as he pulled them back over his head then hurled them. The shot down at the ground then curved, shooting along the ground before rising slowly, tearing through another pair of Stygians necks, removing their heads. Then, the shuriken curved back around through the air toward Marcus, approaching him from either side. He caught them, spinning them before they transformed into his axe and he spun, the axe burying itself in a Stygian that was attacking him from behind. He swung the Stygian over his head, slamming it into the ground before sending out his spectral arm and grabbing one of the last two from his group, smashing it down on top of the other, killing both. Just as he did, Nero's spectral arm grabbed his last Stygian and crushed it into paste.

Marcus grinned, transforming his axe back into a sword and wrenching it free, turning to the Ravager. The Ravager roared, charging and swiping at Marcus, who leapt backward. The Ravager raised its chainsaw but before it could attack again, Nero streaked past it, splitting its back open and spinning. Marcus darted forward, sword tearing through the Ravager's back just as the Ravager's chainsaw roared to life again. Marcus reacted out of instinct, raising his sword and bracing the blade with his arm. The moment the chainsaw blade crashed into his blade, his own blade cut halfway through his forearm. He shouted in pain. Then, he grit his teeth, slowly skidding backward as the Ravager tried to overpower him. Then, Nero landed on the Ravager's shoulders, driving the Red Queen down into its head. The Ravager's chainsaw stopped instantly and it dropped to the ground, Nero ripping his sword back out as Marcus wrenched his arm back off of his blade, the wound beginning to heal instantly.

"You were right," Marcus said. "They are annoying."

Nero chuckled and nodded as they walked over to the ledge of the second level. They both jumped up to the top, checking for devils before Marcus turned back to the ledge, kneeling and reaching down, grabbing Kat's hand when she jumped and pulling her up after him. They walked through the next door and stopped. Stairs.

"Finally," Nero sighed. "And here I thought we'd have to scale the walls."

"I'm sure that'll come later," Marcus said, walking past Nero, sword ready.

Kat fell in behind Marcus with Nero taking up the rear. After a few minutes of following the spiral staircase, they reached a doorway where the door had been slashed into multiple pieces. Marcus stared at it before starting into the room, sword raised and ready. Inside, there was a metal disk with a glowing seal on it. The room itself was a library, with books lining every wall, a fireplace, and a devil with grey skin and a tattered black skirt standing before the fire, a pair of short curved swords in its hands. Marcus took a step toward it only for Nero to hold the Red Queen in front of him, shaking his head.

Marcus nodded motioning for Kat to come closer and she began to. However, as they were all watching the demon, Kat wasn't watching where she was going and accidentally kicked a book. The moment it began to skid across the room, the demon snapped its head around, its face hidden behind a smiling red mask.

"Well, looks like we're going to have to take it down now," Marcus said. "What is it?"

"Drekavac," Nero said. "It's good with those blades."

Marcus nodded and stepped forward just as the devil disappeared into a portal, Marcus staring at his own reflection in the portal. Then, the portal was gone.

"Where'd it go?" Marcus blinked.

"I doubt we want to stay here and find out," Nero said. "Get to the lift, now!"

He pointed at the glowing seal and all three stepped onto it just before it shot upward. Marcus kept an arm around Kat protectively, gripping his sword tightly. Finally, the lift slowed to a stop in a room that had been completely obliterated. There was a small stretch of stone walkway ahead of them, leading to a massive, curved, black pillar with white lines spiraling around it.

"We're here," Nero said, walking out onto the walkway.

"Here?" Marcus blinked. "There's nothing here."

"I don't mean the portal," Nero said, pointing at several small broken spots in the wall, pieces of levels still remaining above them, even chips in the pillar, all of them leading upward.

"Scaling the wall," Marcus said. "There's got to be another way."

"Why?" Nero asked. "You and I both have the power to do it."

"Yes, but Kat doesn't," Marcus said. "And I can't do it while carrying Kat."

"I know," Nero said.

"You know?" Marcus repeated, staring at him incredulously. "So when I asked if the portal could be used by humans, you didn't think to tell me that it didn't matter because she couldn't get to the portal anyway? You just figured I'd be cool with bringing her all the way in here and then ditching her?"

"We have a job to do, Marcus," Nero said.

"Yeah, and I'll do that job as soon as I find another way up to the portal," Marcus said.

"There isn't another way, Marcus," Nero said. "It's this or nothing."

"Then a different portal," Marcus said. "i'm not leaving without Kat."

"Marcus you don't know what's at stake here," Nero said.

"No you don't know!" Marcus snapped.

"Marcus, Mundus is free!" Nero said. "The Savior is free! They're going to destroy everything! There's a reason there are so few demons! They're in the Human World, destroying everything in their path!"

"Then I'll help deal with that after I get Kat out of this world!" Marcus said.

"We don't have time!" Nero snapped.

"Then make time!" Marcus spat. "You'd do it if it were Mom wouldn't you!?"

Nero blinked in surprise, staring at Marcus.

"That's-"

"Different?" Marcus interrupted. "How? Because you're the one she's with? Because she matters to you and Kat doesn't? Well that's too bad because I'm not leaving without Kat!"

"Alright," Nero sighed. "We'll find another-"

Just then a hole exploded into existence on the wall to their left and a flock of about thirty devil that looked like birds with thin wiry arms made out of blood shot out and toward them.

"Blood-goyles!" Nero shouted. "Shoot them!"

Marcus and Nero opened fire, and Kat transformed Pandora into the minigun with six sets of barrels, but before she could fire, the flock of devils shot past them, Marcus and Nero shielding their heads. On their way past, the devils grabbed Kat, however, and Marcus spun, aiming but hesitating.

"Marcus!" Kat screamed.

Then, the devil holding her let go, Kat beginning to fall, screaming as she did. Marcus leapt off of the walkway instantly, shooting through the air after her. As he began to near her, he held out his Devil Bringer, fighting against the wind so that he could grab her. However, before he could, the Blood-goyles shot up past them, grabbing Kat again and taking off, Marcus staring after them.

 _I don't believe it,_ Marcus thought.

Then, his Devil Bringer snapped up, the spectral arm grabbing a crack in the central pillar, stopping him short before sending him shooting through the air after the devils. They cut to the left, flying through a hole and Marcus held his Devil Bringer out to follow only for a massive devil looking like a centipede but with wings in place of legs and with a clam-shaped mouth with feelers around the outside to shoot out of the hole, swallowing him. He growled in rage as tentacles from deep inside the devil grabbed him instantly, dragging him further and further into it.

"Let...me...GO! ! !" He shouted, transforming his sword into shuriken and reaching back, slashing the tentacles attached to his arm before turning it back into a sword and rolling, slashing the rest.

Then, he drew his pistols, opening fire, the bullets shredding everything inside the devil. He heard a pained shriek and felt the devil beginning to fall, so he put his pistols away, grabbing his sword and cutting himself out before jumping, his spectral arm shooting up and catching Nero's, Nero pulling him up to the walkway they had been on.

"We gotta go!" Marcus said. "We can still find her!"

"Marcus," Nero said. "She's gone. I'm sorry. You won't find her in time. They could have taken her anywhere in the tower. We have to go and stop Mundus and the Savior, now."

"No, I have to go and save Kat now!" Marcus snarled. "If you're so desperate to go back to the Human World that you don't even care about helping me, then just go! I'll save her on my own."

He turned, sending out his spectral arm to the hole and pulling himself over, grabbing Pandora on the way, now back in its briefcase form. He looked around on the far side of the hole, seeing streaks of blood heading off to the right.

"Hang on Kat. I'm coming."

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	13. Chapter 13

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Unexpected Help

Marcus landed on the floor as he watched the Blood-goyles swarming around and around in a dome. Inside the dome, Kat was slowly backing away from a massive fat demon with small wiry spikes on its head, thick black slime pouring out of its mouth, clawed fingers, and short stubby legs. Instinctively he knew exactly who it was. It was Kat's stepfather.

"Hey assholes!" Marcus shouted, drawing his guns and opening fire.

The Blood-goyles reacted instantly, swarming toward him. This time, however, each hot was charged with his Demonic Energy, so the Blood-Goyles began to explode into puddles of blood. When they reached him, they began to slash him as they passed, Marcus spun, bullets flying in every direction until the last Blood-goyle fell. Then, he turned to Kat's stepfather in time to catch Kat, setting her down gently, her body covered with scratches and bruises already.

"Kat?" Marcus asked, worriedly.

"You...came," Kat smiled. "I...I tried...to fight him. I did...before. But...he's...stronger now."

"It's alright," Marcus said, putting the necklace on her and wiping his blood onto it. "You rest. Leave him to me."

She nodded as her wounds slowly sealed themselves and the bruises began to fade, and Marcus stood, walking toward the demon. It roared, charging at him but his spectral arm crashed into its face, launching it backward. As it crashed to the ground, Marcus landed on top of it, holding his sword to its face.

"You're going to pay for what you did to her," Marcus snarled.

"I know you," the demon snarled, voice deep and distorted. "Son of Nero, descendant of Vergil and of Sparda. You're going to die here, and then that bitch is going to be made useful once again!"

The demon rolled, throwing Marcus off then slashed at him. Marcus jumped back, avoiding the claws before darting forward, slashing at the demon. It blocked the slash with its claws, catching the sword, then spun, hurling Marcus into a wall. Marcus slid to the ground, growling in annoyance as the demon stood. Marcus picked his sword up as the demon snarled.

"You're not taking her away from me!" the demon snarled.

"She wants nothing to do with you freak!" Marcus snarled, sprinting forward, stepping past its claws and slashing it across the stomach then spinning around it and slashing its back.

It spun, claws tearing through him and hurled him into a wall before he pushed himself up. The demon charged at him again, massive spikes extending from its body as it did.

"I'll kill you!" the demon raged.

"I fought against Vergil on almost level ground," Marcus snorted. "I'll kill _you_!"

He leapt over the demon, drawing his pistols and shooting it rapidly as he fell until he was on the ground, putting the pistols away and drawing his sword. The demon turned, grinning before the spikes exploded out of him. Marcus leapt backward, landing in front of Kat and slashing three spikes as they flew toward them, the third slicing a small scratch in his shoulder.

"You missed," Marcus said.

"Did I?" the demon asked.

Marcus rolled his eyes then sprinted forward only to crash to the ground on the third step, his left arm completely numb suddenly and his left leg feeling like a wet noodle. He growled in frustration, pushing himself up slowly with his sword.

"That toxin is immune to even the powers of a Nephilim Crystal," the demon smirked. "In a couple of seconds, your body will cease to function completely. Then, you'll watch as I break the girl. Then I'll kill you."

Marcus growled in rage, glancing to the right and seeing a chasm.

"No, I won't," Marcus growled, dropping his sword and swaying. "Because we're not going to be here!"

He fell forward, his spectral arm smashing the floor below himself and the demon, both falling into the chasm. The demon roared angrily as Kat screamed, running to the edge and stopping. As they fell, the rest of Marcus's body went numb. The demon roared in rage again, one hand catching Marcus's sword.

"Marcus!" Kat's voice screamed as the demon's other hand closed around Marcus's throat.

He fought to move. To fight back. To do anything. But he couldn't. Suddenly, the pair crashed into a broken pillar, the impact throwing both away from each other, and knocking the sword out of the demon's hand. Marcus crashed down hard, head rolling to the side and vision swimming as the demon crashed down somewhere to his left. As his vision focused, he managed to get his eyes to move enough to take in his surroundings. Bones, bones, more bones, puddles of blood, black rock, more bones, and a glowing seal before him with his sword stabbed into it, almost in the center but a little off. The chasm they had fallen into seemed to have left them in some sort of massive feeding ground or something. Bones covered almost everything, most splattered with blood and with standing puddles of it here and there, but there were places where the stone was visible.

"Well, I wasn't intending to come down here, but since we're here now I'll just kill you and be on my way," the demon's voice spoke as a shadow fell over Marcus.

The seal suddenly flashed before the ground inside of it fell away, bones and all. A summoning circle. Terrific. This day just kept getting better and better. After a moment of nothing happening, the circle began to close, the ground rising back up into place. As the last piece at the center rose back up, it brought with it a man with white hair like Dante, Vergil, Nero, and Marcus's though his was slicked back like Vergil only more under control. The man wore a purple shirt with red embroidery running up the middle, surrounding the two rows of buttons, an open purple coat purple pants, black shoes with blue crystal shoe buckles, white gloves, a white turtleneck collar poked out from under his purple shirt, a black scarf with the ends hanging behind his shoulders, a monocle on his left eye and a blue Nephilim Crystal on a black cord hung out from under the scarf. In his right hand was Marcus's sword, and in his left was a gun that looked like a shotgun but with one large barrel with two bores, one over the other, and a bleached-white bone grip.

"Who the hell are you?" the demon demanded.

"Why are you just laying there?" the man asked, looking at Marcus, his voice calm and friendly, despite the situation and the fact that he clearly wasn't human. "Get up."

"He's not going anywhere," the demon snarled. "My toxins have permeated his body. He can't move."

"Is that right," the man asked. "Well, lucky for him, he has a power that can strike for him."

Marcus realized that the man was right. His silhouette could, technically. He hadn't tried it intentionally, and couldn't recall for sure if he had instinctively done it, but it was worth a shot.

"What do you mean?" the demon asked.

Suddenly, Marcus's silhouette formed over Marcus, grabbing the demon in both hands.

"I told you," Marcus snarled, gritting his teeth against the strain of using the silhouette effectively without moving. "You won't touch her!"

Then, the silhouette ripped the demon in two and hurled them away from each other. Just as he did, a couple dozen Stygians rose out of the floor, snarling at the man in purple.

"Ah, right on schedule," the man said. "It's been a long time since I've danced. Let's see if I can remember."

Then, he was sprinting around the cavern, gun, which was indeed a shotgun with two bores in one barrel, blasting anything that Marcus's sword didn't kill. It was over almost as soon as it began. Within about ten seconds, the man split the last Stygian in half and stopped before Marcus, staring at him.

"Now, let's see about getting you up," the man said.

He reached into his coat, pulling out a round glass bottle with four black metal legs attached to the sides. He pulled out the cork, turning Marcus's head upward and lifting his upper body slightly, pouring a couple of drops of the glowing blue liquid into his mouth. Feeling and function returned to his mouth instantly, then to his throat slightly as the liquid trickled down his throat, followed by a little more.

"Swallow," the man said.

Marcus did so, feeling his throat respond slowly at first then more quickly until it was functioning normally, being the only thing.

"Drink," the man instructed, putting the bottle to Marcus's lips and tipping it.

Marcus drank it as quickly as he could so as not to spill any, until the liquid was gone and the man tossed the bottle over his shoulder, allowing it to shatter on the ground. Slowly, feeling returned to Marcus's body, first as a tingling pain, then that faded and he pushed himself up, swaying for a moment before steadying himself.

"Better?" the man asked.

"Much, thank you," Marcus nodded. "Now, who are you?"

"Who am I?" the man blinked. "You're kidding. You really don't know me? And here I thought maybe you were here intentionally to free me. Ah well. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sparda."

He bowed, one arm held out to his side and the other held across his stomach.

"Sparda?" Marcus said, unimpressed. "Dante and Vergil's father?"

"That's right," Sparda nodded. "I can sense my power in you. Are you one of their children?"

"Vergil's grandson," Marcus said. "Speaking of, Vergil's trying to destroy the human world. He's working for some demon named Mundus."

"Mundus..." Sparda nodded slowly. "I see. Have you fought him?"

"Yes," Marcus nodded. "He was too strong for me to win."

"I expected as much," Sparda said. "You'll need my power. What resides in this sword isn't enough."

"What do you mean resides in the sword?" Marcus asked.

"This sword was forged from a shard of my own sword, Sparda," Sparda said.

"You named your sword after yourself?" Marcus smirked. "Just a little full of yourself aren't you?"

"I never named it," Sparda said. "My enemies did. Anyway, this sword possesses a measure of my power."

He handed it to Marcus, then held out his hand, a glowing red sphere forming in his palm.

"Here," Sparda said. "This should help."

Marcus reached out, placing his Devil Bringer over the sphere and it absorbed the sphere. It began to glow brighter instantly, before releasing a wave of blue Demon Energy that covered Marcus before fading, leaving him wearing a blue button-up shirt with gold buttons, fresh dark grey jeans, leather boots cuffed at the top, a purple coat similar to Sparda's but more plain and with the right sleeve rolled up to above his Devil Bringer, and a black scarf.

"Looks pretty good on you," Sparda mused before pulling his Nephilim Crystal off. "Here. This will also come in handy."

Marcus accepted it, putting it in his pocket before looking up.

"I'll send you back up now," Sparda said. "Good luck."

Sparda placed his gun in Marcus's hand before grabbing him and spinning, hurling him like a bullet back up out of the chasm. Marcus looked up as the ledge where he had fallen from approached rapidly. Then, just as he cleared it, he slowed to a stop, flipping over and landing on his feet in front of Kat, who was sobbing and curled into the fetal position.

"Aw come on," Marcus smiled. "It was just a little fall."

Kat's eyes snapped up at him and he smiled. She threw her arms around him instantly, kissing him, and he kissed her back, ignoring the pain radiating from several cracked ribs. Finally she pulled back, noticing his pained expression.

"You're hurt!" she gasped.

She pulled his Nephilim Crystal off and slipped it over his head, his ribs mending themselves quickly. He sighed in relief before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the one Sparda had given him, slipping it over Kat's neck.

"Where did you get this one?" Kat asked, staring at it.

"While I was down there, I accidentally freed a devil named Sparda," Marcus said.

"What!?" Kat gaped. "You fell all the way to the deepest level of the Demon World, survived, and then jumped back?"

"Actually he threw me, and it didn't seem all that far," Marcus said. "Maybe it was just a summoning circle linked to that area."

"Maybe," Kat said. "So...Sparda's really free?"

"Yeah," Marcus nodded.

"Will he help us fight?" Kat asked.

"Unfortunately no," Marcus said. "He said it's up to us. He did give me a power boost, though. You may have noticed I'm fully dressed now?"

"Actually yeah," Kat nodded. "It looks pretty good."

Marcus chuckled, shaking his head before standing, his body beginning to radiate Demonic Energy.

"Let's go home, shall we?" Marcus asked.

Then, the Demonic Energy solidified into his full demon form, this time with a pair of massive bat wings with the brown scales running along the top with a spike about halfway down where the one bone split into five long thin ones to hold the skin of the wings, which was the same blue of his Devil Bringer. In truth, they actually looked closer to dragon wings.

"Incredible," Kat breathed. "Is that from Sparda?"

"I think so," Marcus nodded, voice not distorted in the slightest and with his eyes now glowing white.

"Wait, are you in control now?" Kat blinked.

"I am," Marcus nodded. "Feels good to be able to use this form without blood lust clouding my mind."

Kat nodded before stepping forward, hugging him.

"Let's go home," she whispered, voice shaky as tears of joy and hope rolled down her cheeks.

He picked her up bridal style then flapped his wings, rocketing into the air and speeding back through the hallways and chambers of the tower, back to the room with the massive pillar in the center. Then, he turned, putting his back toward the pillar and spiraling around it as they shot upward, following the glowing white lines. Finally he slowed to a stop as they reached an intact ceiling.

"Blast through or find a door?" Marcus asked.

Kat looked around before pointing at a gilded red double door that was mostly intact and had a large gilded lion's head on each door.

"Let's try that before we bring the tower down," Kat said.

Marcus nodded, landing in front of the door and switching back to his normal form, setting Kat on her feet before walking over to the door and pushing it open. Then, he and Kat walked through it and found themselves in a long straight hallway ending in a similar doorway. Marcus looked around skeptically but the two of them began to walk forward anyway, Marcus handing Kat Pandora as they did. Then, they stopped halfway as more Blood-goyles began to grow out of the walls and floor. This time, Kat stepped forward, forming the minigun and opening fire before they could attack, massacring them.

"I hate those things," Kat said, transforming Pandora back into her bow.

Marcus chuckled, kissing the top of her head.

"So don't I," Marcus smiled, walking to the door and kicking it, sending them spinning out into the open air.

Before them was a walkway that extended out a ways then turned left, beginning to wrap its way around the tower. They both followed it, running along the pathway until they stopped at the top, the walkway stopping a few feet shy of the top of the pillar and a beam of energy about five feet across in the center of the hundred fifty meter wide pillar. Marcus leapt across the gap first, then turned, catching Kat as she jumped. Then, he turned back to the energy beam just as the Drekavac appeared before it, then one pillar of water exploded into existence on the Drekavac's right and a pillar of yellow lightning began to strike on the ground beside it on its left. Purple lightning began to continuously strike the ground beside the water pillar next, as shadows began to gather into a single point on the other side of the wind pillar.

"I guess we know where he went," Marcus grumbled. "He was getting reinforcements."

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	14. Chapter 14

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Escape

"Kat, you need to head back down the walkway," Marcus said. "Hide in the doorway. The walkway's probably going to collapse."

Kat nodded, turning and leaping across the gap again before running back down the path. As she did, the lightning became one continuous bolt before dispersing, leaving a woman with light blue, long, wavy, bright red hair, and a very revealing dress that looked like it was made out of bats, which Marcus realized was true. Next, the water pillar froze and shattered as the yellow lightning pillar vanished, revealing hulking forms of headless devils, the devils' muscles easily the making them look like a dark blue and yellow Incredible Hulks with their heads cut off and each wielding a _very_ heavily serrated scimitar the same color as their body, the yellow one's with yellow lightning streaming along it and the blue one with ice covering the blade. Next, the shadows grew upward and three dimensional, forming a nondescript silhouette before growing features, becoming a smoky, shadowy replica of Marcus in his full Devil form.

"Oh this is going to hurt," Marcus sighed.

"You are not him!" a voice said from the direction of the blue hulk and the Succubus, who pointed at the hulk.

It held up its silhouette so that the pommel, which was like a shrunken head, was toward him and he saw it had its glowing yellow eyes open and was, in fact, speaking to him.

"You are not the one who killed our brothers Agni and Rudra," the head said.

"Agni and Rudra?" Marcus blinked, the names sounding familiar before it clicked. "Oh, you mean those two scimitars that Dante has in his house."

"Dante?" the other hulk asked, also holding up its sword so its head could see him. "Dante is the one we want? Fine. you will take us to him."

"I'll do no such thing," Marcus snorted. "I'm going to kill all five of you here, and then head back to my world and deal with Mundus."

"Brother, I just thought, this is that kid," the blue one said.

"Oh, you're right brother," the yellow one said. "He is the one. You're very lucky human. We're just going to kill you here and now."

"You and your fetching human companion," the blue one added.

"I'll be handling her," the Succubus said hands trailing up her sides seductively. "I've been feeding on nothing but lesser demons recently. I would love to be able to taste a beautiful young girl like her."

"As tempting as dying and letting you kill her sounds, I'm going to have to refuse," Marcus said, drawing his sword. "I've got a world to save."

Suddenly, the Drekavac was in front of him, sword splitting his torso open in an "X" before it teleported away again, Marcus falling to his knees, sword clattering to the ground.

"What a shame," the Succubus shrugged. "I guess you really can't do anything after all. Tell you what, if you want, I'll let you watch as I pleasure your friend into oblivion before I feast on you too. It'll be the most intense pleasure you've ever felt. Right up until you drift off into nonexistence."

"Pass," Marcus said, standing, wounds and clothes both mending themselves. "But I'm going to have to make this quick. My friend and I are on a tight schedule."

The two hulks roared, charging only for Marcus to leap completely over them, transforming into his full devil form as he did. Then, he landed behind the Drekavac, slashing at it as it spun, sword flashing up and blocking his. It shoved him away and lunged, slashing rapidly, Marcus blocking them all. Then, the Drekavac vanished, Marcus staring at his reflection in the portal. Just as it shrunk out of existence, he heard another open behind him and spun, ducking to the side as the Drekavac shot past, flipping and slashing like a saw blade as he did. Marcus slashed at him but he blocked it then flipped, landing on the ground and lunging again, slashing from both sides. Marcus flipped over the blades, slashing at the Drekavac's head only for his Doppelganger to block the slash. Marcus landed on his feet and leapt away from the Doppelganger then spun, bending over backward as the two scimitars flashed over his head. He stood again as the Drekavac leapt at him. He spun sideways, blocking its swords as it slashed then tripped it, making it face plant and stabbing at it. At the last second, a wall of bats formed, blocking the sword before Marcus leapt backward, a sphere of purple lightning shooting past. He turned to the Succubus then spun away again, raising his sword, both scimitars crashing into his sword and launching him in a shower of sparks. He flew at the Succubus and drew his pistols, opening fire and she burst into a swarm of bats, scattering and allowing him to land safely, putting the pistols away then catching his sword as she reappeared off to one side, a bolt of purple lightning in her hand before she hurled it at him.

He leaned back, allowing it to shoot past and blast the Drekavac in the chest, throwing him. Then, he raised his sword, blocking his Doppelganger's sword and shoving it back, slashing at it. His sword passed through it before it slashed him across the stomach and kicking him, launching him to the side. As he flipped through the air, the yellow hulk clothes-lined him, flipping him the other way before he bounced off the ground twice before coming to a painful stop, groaning and reverting to his human form as his wounds healed. Suddenly, he was pulled to his feet before he felt his body slowly going numb, a soft blue-skinned hand on his cheek and a pair of yellow eyes staring into his.

"Be calm, Marcus," the Succubus said, leaning forward. "Foolish mortal. You thought you could kill us all but in the end, you're powerless to even resist my power alone. Humanity's most base and carnal instincts are simply too powerful for any human to resist."

"Yes," Marcus responded quietly before driving his sword through her heart. "It's unfortunate for you that I'm only half human, though. And either way, both halves belong to someone else, so you can't worm your way inside."

He wrenched his sword back out and the Succubus staggered backward before lightning stuck her and her body burned away, leaving a guitar with sharp edges and that looked like it could change its shape.

"Sorry, one's enough," Marcus said, pulling out a pistol and shooting the guitar several times, breaking it into pieces before putting the pistol away.

He turned back to the others just in time to block the two scimitars, skidding backward but holding them back this time. Then, suddenly, a shiny black leather shoe crashed into one of the two hulks, launching them. Marcus stared at Sparda as he landed lightly, holding out his sword and forming a spectral sword identical to the ones Vergil could make.

"Vergil has those," Marcus remarked, glared at the sword distastefully.

"They are spectral versions of the sealed form of my sword," Sparda said. "The sealed form was once known as Force Edge. Again, I never named it."

Marcus smirked and shook his head then turned back to the demons.

"You got anything that can hurt the Doppelganger?" Marcus asked.

Sparda held out a black stone with light blue crystals sticking out of it in places.

"Here," Sparda said. "This is Luminite. It's just a normal stone here, but I have this one coated in Holy Water, so it'll glow the moment it gets somewhere dark."

"Like the inside of a shadow devil," Marcus grinned, accepting the stone. "Thanks. That should solidify it."

Sparda nodded.

"I'll handle the Drekavac and the two Sword Demons," Sparda said.

Marcus nodded then sprinted at the Doppelganger, the shadow copying him. When they reached each other, Marcus blocked its slash, shoving the Luminite into its chest before leaping away. The Doppelganger stared down at its chest where there was a blue light radiating out of it. Then, its body solidified, becoming less smoke and more dark body. Marcus grinned and slashed at the Doppelganger, the Doppelganger blocking it. Marcus shoved the sword aside and the Doppelganger spun, sword becoming an axe and swiping at Marcus. Marcus flipped over it, forming his scythe and spinning it, splitting the Doppelganger's shoulder open, darkness seeping out of the wound like smoke. As he landed, the Doppelganger began to avoid the scythe, once again holding a sword. Finally, Marcus switched back to his own before he and the Doppelganger began to trade slashes and blocks. Marcus blocked one to his throat and responded with one to the Doppelganger's stomach. The Doppelganger blocked it and kicked at him but he ducked under it and slashed upward at him only for the Doppelganger to block it. After a moment of trying to overpower the other, Marcus shoved the Doppelganger backward before drawing Sparda's gun and blasting it in the face. Its head exploded and it fell away, the shadows dispersing.

Just as they did, he spun, the Drekavac's swords driving themselves through his stomach. He gripped the devil's arms, but it teleported away and Marcus ell to his hands and knees, looking up at Sparda, who was actually struggling to fend off the two hulk devils. The reason was simple. The one with the lightning affinity had electricity streaming along his sword and was moving in a near blur, Sparda barely able to keep up. Granted, he was still not using his full devil form, but still.

"You can't transform, can you?" Marcus growled, pushing himself up as his wounds and clothes mended themselves.

"Not without my sword," Sparda said. "That was the price I paid to defeat Mundus and protect Dante and Vergil."

Marcus took a step toward him only to find the Drekavac standing in his path again.

"Alright," Marcus growled. "I'll deal with you first!"

He darted forward, slashing at the Drekavac but it blocked his slash. The moment it did, Marcus drove Sparda's gun into its gut, firing and launching it backward. He instantly tossed the shotgun and his sword into the air and drew his pistols, firing rapidly at the Drekavac. Unfortunately, it blocked the bullets expertly with its swords. Then, it flipped, landing on the ground as Marcus put the pistols away, then caught the sword and the shotgun, putting the gun away too before charging. The Drekavac charged as well and slashed at him rapidly but Marcus dodged to the side, slashing the Drekavac's swords away from himself before slashing the other way. The Drekavac flipped over the blade, spinning and slashing at Marcus but he grinned, catching both blades with his Devil Bringer before swinging the Drekavac around and smashing it into the ground, stabbing it. Just as he did, Kat screamed. He spun to look as Griffin flew away from the tower, Kat unconscious in one foot.

"Kat!" Marcus shouted, shifting into his devil form instantly and taking off after Griffin.

As he flew, blood red lightning shot out of seals around Griffin as well as the blood red clouds above them but Marcus avoided them, speeding up to catch up to Griffin. As he neared it, Griffin suddenly turned, opening its beak and firing a massive wall of lightning at Marcus. Marcus pulled up short just as something appeared in front of him. The devil had a white-feathered body, black, clawed, bird feet feet, a white wing from the right shoulder blade, another smaller one on the right side of his head reaching back and immobile, a black-feathered wing on the left side of his head, and a hardened black-feathered wing on his left arm as a shield. He had a pair of horns reaching up over his head, the left slightly longer than the right and reaching over, almost forming a halo, and a golden sword with feathers on the back base of the blade, reaching toward the tip as a guard. The devil blocked the lightning with his shield before moving it off to the side and looking back at Marcus.

"After you save your friend, I will deal with the bird," the devil said. "My name is Credo. I serve Lord Sparda."

"I see," Marcus said. "I'm Marcus. That's Kat. Now that introductions are out of the way..."

He shot past Credo, streaking through the air to Griffin, who was struggling to get back up to full speed. He slashed a wing, Griffin shrieking in pain and beginning to fall. Marcus flew down to his leg, removing its foot and catching Kat before flying back to the tower, landing just as Sparda slashed both of the two demons across the stomach, killing them.

"You saved her, good," Sparda said. "I take it Credo is dealing with Griffin. That's also good. I'm afraid I can't return. I no longer have a place there. And if they can kill Mundus this time, someone will need to take control of the Demon World."

"What if we can't kill him?" Marcus asked.

"Then send him back here and I'll seal him in," Sparda said. "Now, this portal accepts humans and devils both, so you and your friend will have no problem passing through, but you'll have to go now."

Marcus nodded, turning and running to the beam of energy with Kat still held securely in his arms. For a moment, he was blinded by the light. Then, he stepped out into an abandoned street and sighed, looking around. It was destroyed, and he could hear Demons nearby. He looked down at Kat and instantly looked away, blushing. Her spirit may have created her a new body in the real world, but it didn't include clothes. He quickly carried her into the nearest house, finding a bed and setting her on it, covering her with his jacket before quickly going to find her some clothes.

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	15. Chapter 15

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Recruited

Marcus pulled his coat back on, glancing at Kat again, mind flashing the image of her naked body in his arms, before he forced the image back out of his head, and Kat glanced at him.

"I'm fine," Kat said. "I told you, he didn't hurt me. Just bumped my head as he picked me up."

Marcus nodded, looking away, pretending that had been why he was staring. They had found clothes, but they weren't the best. Actually, they barely counted as clothes. She was now wearing a strip of cloth somehow classified as a tube top that was barely big enough to reach from a little higher than halfway down her breasts to about two inches above her navel, and it was _very_ tight. For lower body clothing, they had found the shortest pair of cut-off jean shorts he had ever seen, with the shorts shorter than the pockets. Then, for the sake of modesty, and so that Marcus could focus in a fight, though he would never tell her that, they had gotten a winter jacket from one of the rooms and she wore it open, along with a pair of lace-up boots like she had had before, coincidentally.

I stepped out into the street, looking around. There was a broken sign a little ways away, so once Kat was done tying her boots and walked out beside me, we made our way over to it, seeing what it had been. A big white hospital "H" on a blue sign. I sighed.

"Helpful," Marcus said, feeling his pockets then grinning. "Thank you Sparda."

He pulled out his cellphone, which apparently hadn't been broken or lost at any point while in the underworld. Marcus dialed something quickly as Kat stared at the Iphone five in awe.

"What?" Marcus asked.

"What is that?" Kat asked.

"Cell phone," Marcus said. "Oh, right. It's a portable phone with a screen that responds to touch."

"That's amazing!" Kat gaped.

"This one's actually old," Marcus smirked before finally sighed. "Thank God Dante. Jesus don't you ever answer...yes I'm alive. It'll take more than a fall to kill me. And Vergil didn't finish the job. Has Dad gotten back yet? No? Well then you need to track my phone. We have no idea where we are. The location's on. Dad should be around here somewhere too. So is that girl I mentioned who rescued me from the Demon World last time."

"You told them about me?" Kat asked.

"Yeah," Marcus nodded. "Really? That close? Why, what's at the shop? Really? Yeah, that'd probably be helpful. Alright, we'll stop by there before we go..."

He trailed off, turning to stare at the portal as the two hulk demons stepped out, bodies regenerated and sword held at the ready.

"I gotta go," Marcus said. "We've got some unfinished business. We'll pick it up then take the car and meet you outside the city."

He hung up, putting the phone away before drawing his sword and walking toward the two who both knelt, placing their swords so that their heads were watching him.

"We're not here to fight," the blue one said. "We wish to come with you."

"We can't hold these forms for much longer," the yellow said. "We're too badly wounded. Please, take us to our brothers."

"Sure," Marcus nodded. "But you're going to be wielded by someone. Probably me or her."

"Agreed," the yellow one said.

Marcus nodded and the two bodies faded, Marcus picking up the swords and spinning them before putting them against his back and letting go, both remaining in place as he picked up his own sword again.

"Nero!" He shouted. "Come back to the portal!"

Nothing. Of course.

"Come on," Marcus said. "If I know my father, he'll be heading toward the shop."

"Didn't you just meet him two days before you fell into the Demon World?" Kat asked.

"Yes," Marcus said. "But he and I are a lot alike."

Kat hesitated but nodded and we started walking, heading through the city streets and back alleys, places where before demons would have lurked, places where there should be demons now. Especially now. After all, Dante had told me on the phone that Mundus had a demon army fighting the entire world, until Mundus, the Savior, and Vergil all died. Only then would the rest of the demons they summoned be banished back to the Demon World. Finally, the sop came into view, seals spray painted on it and glowing white and orange and yellow, the shop being the one building not damaged, for once.

"Those are...mine," Kat breathed. "He still remembers how to use them."

"Looks like they're pretty handy," Marcus said.

Kat nodded and they began to walk across the street just as Nero stepped out of the shop, stopping when he saw them. Then, he sprinted forward, grabbing Marcus in a hug.

"Thank God you got out," Nero said. "But how? How did she get out?"

"I can fly," Marcus said. "When I rescued her, I had a run-in with a demon from her past who cheated. Then I got saved by Sparda."

"Sparda?" Nero blinked.

"Yeah," Marcus nodded. "I freed him by accident and he gave me a power boost and a new gun then saved me and sent me on my way out, only to help me out later when I fought a Succubus, a Doppelganger, the Drekavac, and these two."

He turned so that Nero could see and Nero stared at him.

"Sparda's free?" Nero asked.

"Yes," Marcus nodded. "He's waiting for Mundus to die so that he can imprison all of the other demons back in the Demon World and take control so they don't attack again."

Nero nodded then smiled.

"Oh, and this other devil, I think it was some guy called Credo, also helped out," Marcus said, Nero freezing.

"Credo?" Nero blinked. "White feathers and one wing, black wing-themed shield, and a golden sword?"

"Yeah him," Marcus said. "You know him?"

"It's Kyrie's brother," Nero said. "Your uncle."

Marcus stared at him before nodding slowly.

"I see," Marcus said. "Anyway, I gotta grab a few things from inside. Wait for us, alright?"

"Sure," Nero nodded.

Marcus walked past him and into the armory, Kat following. The reaction was instant. Marcus's new living scimitars began to shout greetings and the like, a second pair of voices shouting back instantly.

"Kat, can you go and grab Agni and Rudra?" Marcus asked.

Kat nodded and walked over to the swords, picking them up and putting them on her back, as Marcus had his own. Next, Marcus picked up a guitar identical to the one he had broken before, a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun, slipping it into one of the pockets on his coat, then a grenade launcher, slinging it on his right side, a heavy sniper rifle over his left shoulder, and a rocket launcher on his right, his sword now vertical down his back.

"Alright," Marcus said. "We can leave now."

"Okay," Kat nodded, nod wearing a pair of gauntlets designed to look like black puma feet and clawed hands, white lines spreading over both with light radiating from them.

Marcus raised an eyebrow and Kat shrugged.

"I figured I'm tired of needing rescuing," Kat said.

"Fair enough," Marcus said. "Let's get going."

He walked outside to find Nero waiting in the car. He piled the guns that would fit in the trunk then set the guitar, rocket launcher, and sniper rifle in the back, leaving room for Kat. Then, he got in the passenger seat and Kat climbed in back. Nero pulled away from the store instantly and Marcus sighed, drawing one of his pistols.

"And here I was hoping for a nice quiet ride," Marcus said, leaning out the window and aiming backward.

A moment later, the shop all but exploded as a massive flaming bull with a humanoid torso and charging after them on only its back feet appeared. It raised a massive hammer that had flames rolling off of it and Marcus sighed.

"Well that's going to be a problem," Marcus said. "Take this right."

Nero spun the wheel, skidding around a corner as the devil slammed his hammer into the ground, a wave of flames tearing through the ground, barely missing them. Marcus sat back down and reach to the back seat, picking up the sniper rifle and leaning back out again.

"How can you use a sniper rifle with a magazine on the top and no scope?" Kat asked.

"Sniper?" Nero snorted. "Hell no. That's an anti-material rifle. It's made to put holes in tanks."

Marcus waited until the devil had skidded around the corner and was stomping after them to pull the trigger. The gun went off with a deafening explosion, smashing into Marcus's shoulder and making him grunt in pain. The bullet streaked through the air, hitting the devil in the face and blasting its head into oblivion. Kat stared in awe as the body burst into a cloud of sparks and flame and Marcus climbed back into the car, passing her the rifle.

"That hurt," Marcus said, rolling his now healed shoulder.

"Sounded like it," Nero nodded. "More company."

"How do you two know there are devils around before they even show up?" Kat asked.

"Sixth sense," Marcus said. "It's a devil thing. We both have devil's blood in us. And besides that, these glow around devils, brighter around more or stronger ones."

He held up his Devil Bringer which was glowing. Then, he drew a pistol, leaning out as dozens of Elite Stygians began to chase them.

"Oh it's just too easy!" Marcus smirked, opening fire and dropping the Stygians rapidly.

As the last one fell, several dozen Ravagers burst out of the ground, instantly charging after the car, chainsaws roaring as they slowly gained.

"How fast are you going?" Marcus asked.

"Figured you would want something to do," Nero said. "Besides, if one appears in front of us, I can stop."

Marcus rolled his eyes, charging his pistol with Demonic Energy before firing. The bullet drilled through two before stopping in the third, only for all three to keep running.

"So that's how it's going to be, huh?" Marcus grumbled. "Kat, I need Pandora."

Kat handed him the briefcase, Marcus swapping out his pistol for it. Then, he formed Pandora into a massive laser cannon that rested on his shoulder like a rocket launcher.

"Try this," Marcus said, firing.

The laser exploded, blasting two of the Ravager's into pieces. The others kept running. He fired again. One this time. Again. They all dodged it.

"Alright, this one then," Marcus said, switching to a rocket launcher with three tubes, then charging the weapon with Demonic Energy.

All three heat-seeking missiles fired, each finding a mark with double the explosion. Then, ten Ravagers charged out of the smoke, starting to get dangerously close.

"Let me see it!" Kat said, Marcus handing her Pandora instantly, drawing his pistol and beginning to fire.

Kat leaned out the other window with her energy bow form of Pandora and pulled the string back, aiming for a moment before firing, a Ravager dropping with an arrow in its head.

"Great shot!" Marcus cheered.

Kat fired again, two more. She fired two arrows at once and dropped two of them.

"You're amazing!" Marcus cheered, firing again and finally dropping the one he had been peppering with bullets.

Suddenly, Nero swerved and Kat screamed as she began to fall. Marcus lunged across the car, catching her around the upper legs and pulling her back in. As he did, Nero skidded around a corner. Kat continued firing arrows, two missing but three finding one of the Ravagers, dropping it. the thing Nero had had to avoid, on the other hand, was more of a problem. It was one of the massive, fat evils that looked like it had pieces from Lesser Stygians making it up. She fired at it but her arrow shattered harmlessly.

"Take down the Ravagers!" Marcus shouted.

Kat turned back to the last four and quickly dropped two before the fat devil began to charge.

"Hold on!" Nero shouted, flooring the accelerator.

Marcus pulled Kat into the car instantly before Nero skidded around another corner, the fat devil crashing into the building to their right instead of being able to make the turn. Then, Kat leaned back out the window, dropping the last two Ravagers. Then, the front of the building exploded as the fat devil began to chase them again.

"This guy can't take a hint," Marcus said, leaning out the window. "Rocket launcher."

Kat passed it out to him and he sighted in on the massive devil. After a moment, he fired, the rocket hitting the devil in the chest and exploding, blowing everything from halfway up its stomach into tiny pieces, dropping the devil. He passed the rocket launcher back in and climbed in again, sighing.

"I think we're clear," Marcus said.

Then, Nero turned another corner, slowing to a stop to find Dante, Lady, and Trish all waiting on their bikes.

"So much for resting," Marcus sighed.

"Nice of you all to make it," Dante said. "Come on. HQ's this way."

Then, the three bikes sped off and Nero followed in the car.

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	16. Chapter 16

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

War Preparations

Marcus stared at the weapon rack. A bunch of guns. Snipers, assault rifles, Marksman Rifles, shotguns, machine guns, grenade launchers, AA guns, you name it. Dante had promptly given away the rocket launcher Marcus had brought him in a trade for a fifty caliber sniper rifle, and the grenade launcher for an AA-12, which he had somehow upgraded to Devil Arm in order to get infinite FRAG-12s. Not a bad trade, but given the fact that Marcus had been given one of each free of charge, it seemed pointless. Marcus had had Dante upgrade his own AA-12 as well and gave it to Kat, even though she had Pandora with her at all times, and had given the sniper to Nero. Go figure but you didn't really need many guns when you could form a silhouette that was able to crush enemies into paste.

"Are you just going to glare at those guns all day or are you going to come see what the real devil hunters brought to play with?" Dante asked from behind him.

"I don't need new guns, I don't need a new sword," Marcus said. "My sword can turn into an axe, a scythe, shuriken, or gauntlets if I so desire. So what could they possibly have that I'm interested in?"

"Simple," Dante smirked. "Stories, tactics, weapons, and one of them claims to have an aphrodisiac so strong that even a Succubus can't resist it. Bet your girlfriend will like that. Besides, I haven't gotten to meet my future great niece."

"No one but you is discussing marriage," Marcus said standing. "Don't jump the gun. Besides, she's the one who doesn't want to meet you."

"Now that's harsh," Dante said as Marcus walked past him to the large tent where all of the devil hunters, both those who worked for Devil May Cry, and those who didn't, were gathered to show off all of their toys.

Marcus stepped into the tent, looking around. He spotted Nero and Kyrie instantly, Nero sharpening Red Queen while Kyrie cleaned Blue Rose for him. Next, he spotted Trish sharpening her sword next to Lady who was cleaning her weapons. Sitting with them was a tan woman who looked middle eastern, except for her seemingly natural fire-engine red hair. She wore a white poncho with a high collar over tight white belly shirt with three-quarter sleeves, black gloves, tight white pants, and high-healed knee-high leather boots. She had a harness on her upper thighs attached to a knife belt and with a trap on each thigh for her curved blades, which she was currently cleaning and sharpening. The rest of the Devil Hunters were all grouped together in the middle of the tent, drinking, eating, cleaning their weapons, and sharing stories of different jobs. The vast majority of these hunters wore white trench coats with their hoods up and had identical swords, all of which also looked a lot like Red Queen, except more ordinary and white. Some of the devil hunters wore less uniform outfits, however, and carried mostly guns.

"The Order of the Sword," Dante said. "I ended up destroying them once. Then Nero let them restart under Kyrie's supervision and they've been working alongside Devil May Cry ever since. And then there are the ones and twos that work for fun or profit. Not a bright bunch them, but they're still better than the militaries of the world."

"And I'm guessing the one talking to Trish and Lady is Lucia?" Marcus guessed.

"Very good," Dante nodded. "Come on. I'll introduce you."

Dante led him over and Lucia glanced up at him, then at his Devil Bringer, then back to her blades.

"You're Nero's kid," Lucia said. "Strong, fast, cautious. Caution is a rare thing among Devil Hunters. And a priceless one. I hear you escaped the Demon World twice."

"With help," Marcus said.

"Help or not, once more and you'll be as accomplished as Dante," Lucia said. "I'm Lucia. Blade Master of Devil May Cry. Also the only Devil Hunter in the entirety of the middle east, so you'll have to forgive me for being a bit impatient. I'm usually busy, and don't deal with children."

"That's fine," Marcus said. "I'm only talking to you because Dante wants me to."

"Be civil Lucia," Dante said. "After all, this is the kid you're going to be working with."

"No," Marcus and Lucia both said.

"I work alone," Lucia said.

"And I've got a partner," Marcus said.

"Your girlfriend's not a Devil Hunter," Dante said.

"She's been dealing with Devils longer than anyone, even you," Marcus said. "She's lived in the Demon World for about sixty years, and I'm not leaving her side once this all starts."

"Then take her with you," Dante said.

"I will," Marcus said. "Alone. Without Lucia. And I'm going to be going after Vergil."

"Okay, well, Vergil is currently with the Savior, who has an army of Reaper type devils around him, as well as several class threes," Dante said. "Vergil himself, along with the Savior, are both class ones. And you'll have to fight both."

"You know, you've never really explained to me how the class systems work," Dante said.

"Well, there are five classes," Dante said, sitting down. "Class fives, are weak and pathetic, like a single lesser stygian. A normal human could easily kill one in single combat, provided he had a decent weapon. Like a gun. Class fours are things like Death Scythes, or Hell Vanguards. Annoying things but still relatively easy to kill for a Devil Hunter."

"What about Elite Stygians?" Marcus asked.

"High five, low four," Dante shrugged. "I'm giving you the most commonly accepted examples of each. Class threes, would be like that demon you killed when we first met. Or like a Gigapede. A giant flying centipede with a clam for a head."

"I've killed one of those," Marcus said. "They're not very strong."

"For you, no," Dante agreed. "For a lower ranking Devil Hunter, they're more problematic. Now, class twos are where we start to get into trouble. Succubi are class two for their ability to control Devil Hunters' minds. Demons like Agni and Rudra are class twos for their raw power. Doppelgangers are class twos for the fact that it's ridiculously hard to fight yourself."

"I've fought a doppelganger," Marcus said. "It wasn't that strong."

"From what you said, you had it permanently solidified," Dante said. "That makes it weaker, closer to class three. Any other time you fight one, the doppelganger uses dark rooms to its advantage, remaining untouchable but deadly."

"Wouldn't that make it a class one then?" Marcus asked.

"No," Dante laughed. "You see, as a demon climbs the ranks, they become more diverse, and unique, but also more powerful. Class one is reserved for the absolute most deadly, the kind that even the strongest Devil Hunters don't want to fight. There are only a handful that exist. Vergil, the Savior, Arius, Samael."

"Mundus," Marcus said.

"Mundus is a class all his own," Dante said. "And you are not allowed to go near Mundus. Devil Hunters are ranked too. Look around. What do you see?"

"A bunch of guys in white cloaks with swords who think they're tough," Marcus said.

"They're all class three," Dante said. "And every single one of them would be absolutely slaughtered by a class three demon. Demon Hunting is as much a game of numbers as it is a game of skill and luck. Demons' numbers are always in spades."

"Alright, so what about the Devil May Cry employees?" Marcus said.

"Lady and Lucia are both Class two," Dante said. "As is your girlfriend, I'd wager. Kyrie is between two and three, Nero, myself and Trish are all class one."

"And what about me?" Marcus asked.

"When you went into the Demon World you were high class two, and that only because of your Devil Bringer," Dante said. "Your skill alone rates you between two and three. If my father gave you a power up like you said, you're probably high two, maybe low one."

"What about Credo, and Sparda?" Dante asked.

"Credo is high two," Dante said. "Low one in his demon form. My father, is on level with Mundus."

"And you're not?" Marcus asked.

"I am when I use the power my father left in Sparda," Dante said, indicating Trish's sword. "Otherwise, no. I'm not."

"What about Vergil?" Marcus asked. "Are you stronger than him?"

"I'm not sure," Dante said. "But I'm going to find out."

"If I don't beat you to it."

"It's a war, Marcus," Dante said. "You've got to fight the soldiers in order to reach the generals."

"Or I can just fly over them," Marcus said.

"There's a reason we have AA guns," Trish said. "Eighty percent of devils possess some form of flight."

"Then I'll kill anything that tries to fly with me," Marcus said.

"No," Dante said. "You're family. I'm not going to watch you die, again, for revenge."

"I'll be fine," Marcus said. "But I'll fight the war your way until we get to them."

"Good," Dante said. "Now where's your girlfriend?"

"I'll go get her," Marcus sighed.

He walked out of the tent and to Kat's, finding her cleaning her AA 12 while Agni and Rudra talked to their brothers, Indra the lightning elemental blade and Varuna the water and ice elemental blade.

"Is something wrong?" she asked when she saw the exasperated look he was wearing.

"My family wants to meet you," Marcus said.

She slowly set her gun down and nodded, swallowing hard.

"It's alright," Marcus said. "Dante's the only one who's going to annoy you, except maybe Trish, and possibly Lady."

"It's not that," Kat said. "It's...there's something I should have told you before. I...After Dante fought Vergil the first time, he and I...we were...very close before I died."

"You were together?" Marcus asked before his eyes widened. "Well shit. This is about to be really really awkward then."

Kat nodded.

"I'm sorry," Kat said. "I should have told you. I understand if-"

Marcus kissed her, silencing her instantly before smiling.

"Don't even think about it," Marcus said. "I love you, Kat. I'm not letting you go that easy."

Kat smiled and nodded. Marcus smiled back before standing, collecting Indra and Varuna and putting them on his back as Kat collected Agni and Rudra and the two of them walked to the Devil Hunters tent, Marcus walking in first. Dante looked over, meeting his eyes instantly with a grin and a raised eyebrow, but it faded as Marcus's cold stare met it. Then, Marcus felt his face heat up and his cheeks turn slightly pink as he stepped out of the way and Kat stepped inside, blushing furiously and barely able to look at Dante. Dante's eyes widened and he stood slowly, staring at her, open-mouthed and disbelieving. Then, he all but sprinted across the tent, picking her up in a hug and spinning.

"How are you alive?" Dante asked, setting her down. "What are you doing..."

His eyes darted to Marcus and back before his disbelieving expression turned into a knowing grin.

"Oohh," Dante grinned, staring at Marcus for a moment. "I get it. That explains so much. How he was able to survive in the Demon World for the first six years of his life, how he escaped, how his friend knew about demons and a portal that would accept both humans and devils. It was all you. I understand now."

"It's good to see you again too, Dante," Kat said, hugging him before stepping back and glancing at the others.

"Oh, right," Dante said, walking to the other members of Devil May Cry. "This is Lucia the most beautiful middle eastern Devil Hunter I've ever met."

"The only middle eastern Devil Hunter alive," Lucia said. "Don't let him fool you. He's only flirting with me because he's not sure if he's going to get laid with Trish tonight."

All of the other assembled Devil Hunters laughed.

"And this is Lady, the best gunslinger after myself," Dante continued, blushing slightly. "My nephew, Nero and his wife Kyrie. And this is Trish. She's my business partner."

"Is that what I am?" Trish asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Only because he doesn't have the balls to kiss you," Marcus said.

"As I was saying," Dante spoke up, cutting them off before they could taunt him anymore. "Trish, Lucia, everyone, this is Kat. The human that helped me in Limbo City."

All of them stared, having heard his description of her, and how much he had cared about her, numerous times...when Dante was drunk enough to talk about it.

"I-I'm sorry," Lucia said. "I didn't mean to offend-"

"It's alright," Kat said, raising his hands. "I died sixty years ago. Whatever me and Dante were back then, it ended. Besides, he's a little too old for me now."

"Ouch," Dante said. "I've still got more years left than..." Dante trailed off, eyes flicking to Marcus who stared at the floor.

"I know," Kat said, looking to Marcus. "We'll deal with that after the war, alright?"

Marcus looked up at her then nodded.

"I think that's enough meet-and-greet for one day," Dante said. "Come on. Have a pizza with us. I'll bet it's been a while since you've eaten anything decent."

Marcus smirked before a thought occurred to him. What, if anything, had she eaten in the Demon World? The two of them followed Dante and the others out of the tent to building where the cooks were, and Dante walked up to one who was still wearing his Domino's uniform. The man instantly scrambled away from Dante to the oven and Dante sat at a table, propping his feet up on it as the others sat around the table with him, Nero and Trish also propping their feet up.

"You have horrible manners," Marcus said, watching them.

"Oh you'll be fine," Dante said.

"I think you could all learn something from Marcus," Kyrie said. "He has more manners than all three of you combined."

"His parents probably...oh," Dante said. "Sorry."

Marcus rolled his eyes just as the Domino's guy set several pizzas on the table and scrambled off.

"What, free?" Marcus asked.

"The President has repaid all of the debt Devil May Cry-" Dante began.

"Your branch of Devil May Cry," Nero interrupted.

"My branch of Devil May Cry," Dante grumbled. "Has accumulated, as well as promising any Devil Hunter willing to fight free food during the war, and free food, housing, life insurance, medicare, and tax exemption for life for whoever kills the three devils in charge of the devil army."

"That's very generous," Marcus said. "What types?"

He opened the top one and grimaced, passing it down the line. Dante's kind. The next was even worse. Anchovies. Lucia took that one. The last was simply a meat lover's. Marcus got himself two slices as the others dug in. Dante ate four slices himself. Marcus eating three, Kyrie ate one, Lady and Trish both ate three, and Lucia and Nero ate two. Kat, ate six.

"You were hungry," Dante said.

"No, but I missed pizza," Kat said.

"Alright then," Dante snorted. "Hey, let's get some alcohol over here!"

"I don't drink," Marcus said.

"Me neither," Kat said.

"Aw you guys are no fun," Dante snorted.

"Someone needs to be sober enough to fight if we get attacked," Marcus said.

"Oh don't be so serious all the time," Dante said as one of the cooks set several thirty racks of beer on the table. "We can all fight drunk."

"And what if Vergil decides to come and find his brother?" Marcus asked.

"Spoil sport," Dante grumbled, opening a beer and draining it.

"I'm leaving," Marcus said. "I'll see you guys later."

He stood, walking away from the others and after a moment, Kat followed. She looked around once outside but there was no sign of him. She began to wander around, asking people if they had seen him, but no one had. Finally she went to the tent they were sharing and found him sitting inside, cleaning his sword. He smiled as she entered and set his sword aside, picking up a pair of ice cream cones that Varuna had been keeping cold, holding one out to her.

"I told you I was going to buy you an ice cream when we got out," Marcus smiled.

Kat stared at it for another moment before taking hers and licking it, a wide smile spreading across her face. Marcus smiled as well, both enjoying their ice creams in silence. Once they had finished, Kat leaned on Marcus's shoulder, wrapping her arms around him as his own went around her shoulders. She closed her eyes, enjoying his presence. After a little bit, he lay down on his cot, pulling his blanket over them. She snuggled into his chest and he kissed the top of her head lightly. She smiled up at him before reaching up and kissing him. He kissed her back, hands resting in the small of her back. After a moment, he trailed his tongue along her lower lip and she granted it entrance, moaning slightly as her own tongue met his.

His hands began to trail up her sides, but before they reached their goal, Kat pulled back, sitting up and catching them, moving them to her hips. He opened his mouth to apologize but stopped when she reached up to the zipper of her jacket, opening it and dropping it on the ground beside them. Then, she slowly pulled her top off, allowing him to see her bare skin. His eyes drank in the sight before he looked into her eyes questioningly. She nodded and he sat up, pulling her into a kiss as his hands began to explore again.

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	17. Chapter 17

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

* * *

Problems

Marcus stepped out of the Devil Hunters' hangout tent and looked around. The sky was black, lightning was flashing across it, Indra and Varuna were both telling him that demons were on the way, and Dante and the others were nowhere to be found. Even Kat seemed to have disappeared.

"Where are they?" Marcus asked.

"Your friends I don't know," Indra said. "But the demons are all around us."

Marcus growled in annoyance, looking around again. He shouted for Dante, for Nero, for Kat. Nothing. Military members were running around, a soldier with an HK417, a Marine with an M4. Several members of the Order of the Sword ran past and Marcus caught one's arm.

"Where's Devil May Cry?" Marcus asked.

"They're gone," the man said. "They disappeared before dawn."

Marcus growled in annoyance. That had been his experience too. He woke up and Kat was gone, her nephilim crystal lying in place of her head. The only good sign was that all of the others' weapons were gone too, which meant that they probably hadn't been kidnapped. He ran to the edge of camp and stopped, staring at the sky. It seemed the devils had finally grown tired of waiting. A massive ring of Bianco Angelos, Alto Angelos, and Death Scythes descended out of the clouds, circling the camp. Marcus's mouth fell open. It was going to be a very short war. There were thousands of them. And there were only a couple dozen lower class Devil Hunters along with a couple hundred military members in the camp.

"Great," Marcus sighed. "Well, might as well kick this party off."

He drew his pistols, firing into the horde of demons, corpses falling from it rapidly. All around the camp, other Devil Hunters, as well as military members, began to fire into the horde, killing devils by the dozens. But after a moment, the devils broke free, of the cloud, flying down in a trail then shooting along the ground at Marcus. Just before they arrived, Kat stepped up beside him, slamming Pandora down as a minigun and opening fire, shredding the devils and forcing them to scatter. As she retracted Pandora, Marcus turned to her.

"Where were you?" Marcus asked.

"I'm really sorry," Kat said. "I meant to be back before you woke up. Dante wanted me to come to a war meeting, but he said you needed to stay in case there was an attack while we were there."

"Great," Marcus growled, turning away from her. "That's just wonderful. You just got here and you're already more a part of my family than I am."

He drew his sword, shifting it to his scythe and sprinting away from the camp, the devils roaring and swarming at him all at once. As they reached him, he began to spin his scythe in a blur around himself, Kat firing Pandora into the massive cloud growing above him. Devils began to fly down at him and Marcus shredded them as they passed. They began to attack him faster and faster, more and more, until he was dodging and slashing with everything he had, devils' pieces flying past him on all sides. Then, just like that, they were gone. He turned toward the camp to see the tents had all been knocked down, and there were dozens of Alto and Bianco Angelos fighting against the Order of the Sword members, who were holding their own surprisingly well. Marcus switched back to a sword, charging back toward them. Just as he reached the camp, an Alto Angelo killed its opponent and turned toward Marcus, only to be instantly destroyed by Marcus's spectral arm. He sent the arm out, slashing a half dozen more and those members moved on to other devils.

Marcus skidded to a stop, spinning, and gripping his sword with both hands just as three Alto Angelos' swords crashed into it. He skidded backward before shoving them away, slashing one and grabbing another's foot, smashing him into the ground then grabbing his sword and slashing the last with it, stabbing his own sword down through the second devil's helmet. He ripped it back out just as a laser flashed past his shoulder into the cloud of devils above, exploding and vaporizing a dozen or so of them. Marcus turned and hurled his sword, the blade flying as straight as an arrow over Kat's shoulder, impaling the Hell Scythe that had been flying toward her from behind. He sprinted forward, rolling under a Bianco Angelo's lance and grabbed Indra and Varuna, spinning and slashing the devil several times before stopping, turning and slashing Indra, a sphere of lightning flying off the blade and blasting a pair of Alto Angelos that were heading for a group of Order of the Sword members. Then, he put the scimitars away as Kat reached him, handing him his sword.

"Marcus, I'm sorry," Kat said. "I didn't mean to worry you, or hurt you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you in advance."

"Then why did you leave your Nephilim Crystal?" Marcus asked, holding his sword out to the side just as an Alto Angelo flew past, the devil bisecting itself on the blade.

"It was supposed to let you know I'd be back," Kat said. "You gave me that necklace. I'd never willingly part with it permanently."

Marcus spun, sword transforming into a pair of shuriken, which went shredding through a Hell Scythe before shooting out to the sides, tearing through an Alto and Bianco Angelo on the way back before Marcus caught them, changing them into a gauntlet and using it and his Devil Bringer to rip a chunk of the ground free, hurling it into the air where a group of Bianco Angelos crashed into it mid-charge, all of them crashing to the ground in pieces.

"We'll talk about it later," Marcus said, turning as a Hell Scythe with a dozen scythes floating in the air around him stopped, staring at him with its ram horns burning. "Go and help the other Devil Hunters."

Kat nodded, turning and sprinting away. Marcus spun his sword once before sighing.

"You chose a bad time to attack," Marcus said. "See, my family just royally pissed me off. And the love of my life scared me by making me think she had left. So you see, you're all going to die!"

He shot forward, entering his full devil mode and instantly blasting straight through the Hell Scythe, flying up at the cloud of devils with a deafening roar, the devils shooting down to meet him as he spun the sword into a scythe, rapidly and easily shredding his way through them. As he cleared the top of the cloud, the devils all swarmed outward, rolling back on themselves as they flew at him from all sides. He spun the scythe, switching it into a pair of shuriken. Then, he spun, sending the shuriken spinning through the cloud of devils in a circle around him. Then, he drew Indra and Varuna, spinning as the blades began to shred the devils as they reached him. After a moment, he flipped, a pair of giant scissors snapping closed under him before he twisted, splitting the devil up the front. He flipped again as a pair of scythes passed under him. He spun, decapitating both Hell Scythes, then flipping backward under a Bianco Angelo's lance. He hurled Varuna into the air and caught the lance's handle, flipping and slamming it into an Alto Angelo. He spun, smashing another Bianco Angelo's helmet off, then turned, driving the lance through a Hell Scythe's skull. As soon as he had, he let go of the lance, catching Varuna and spinning, a ring of water charged with lightning forming and shooting outward, frying a dozen devils. Then, he put both swords away, holding out his hands as the shuriken finally returned. He caught both, placing them together and transforming them back into his sword, just as an Alto Angelo drove its sword through his torso from the back. He spun, driving his elbow into its head and caving it in. Then, he slammed his other hand into the point of the sword, knocking it out before spinning and catching it, slashing upward with it instantly and killing a Hell Scythe.

Just as he was about to kill another, a glowing arrow made of energy passed over his shoulder, drilling through a handful of devils, one after another, then exploded, clearing a space. A moment later, Dante arrived in his full devil form, wielding Rebellion with one hand and a broadsword with a dragon-themed hilt in the other, lightning streaming along the second broadsword's blade and then along his arm to the rest of his body. Marcus hurled the Alto Angelo's sword into the cloud of devils and shifted his own sword back into a scythe just in time to begin spinning it and shredding the devils trying to swarm him. Together, he and Dante quickly and easily began to shred their way through the cloud. Finally, the devils turned tail, beginning to flee. Marcus placed his sword against his back as Dante placed both there, Ebony and Ivory appearing in Dante's hands.

"I don't think so," Dante growled as Marcus formed his pistols.

Both began to fly in a circle, firing rapidly and slaughtering them as they ran. Then, finally, they stopped, the last devils escaping into the distance. Both floated to the ground and landed beside Kat and Nero, who had his sword buried in a devil's back. He twisted it sharply, then ripped it out.

"Busy day?" Marcus asked.

"Fairly," Nero said.

Marcus looked past him at the dozen odd devil corpses still fading behind Nero, including the one at his feet. Then, he looked back at the sea of dead bodies behind him that he and Dante had left.

"Looks like it," Marcus said, turning back to Nero. "Anyway, do we know anything about exactly what's happening here?"

"Just follow the plan, and we'll be fine," Dante said.

"What plan?" Marcus asked.

"Weren't you listening at the brief this morning?" Dante asked.

"Uh, no, I was here, thinking my family abandoned me and slaughtering devils to make up for it," Marcus said.

"We left him behind in case there was an attack," Trish said. "Really Dante, pay attention."

"Oh, right," Dante said. "Okay, so, the plan's pretty simple. Mundus and the Savior are all headed for the Bermuda Triangle, and Vergil is tearing open rifts to the demon world all over the planet to buy them time. Armies of devils are pouring out of each. The world's militaries are trying to hold them back, with varying degrees of success."

"Okay," Marcus said. "So what's the plan?"

"Simple," Dante grinned. "Kill everything we can find, and then head to the Bermuda Triangle to kill Mundus and the Savior. Again."

"Um...okay," Marcus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to say this as plainly as I can without flat-out insulting your intelligence. It'll take us longer to get to the next rift, than it'll take Mundus and the Savior to reach the Bermuda Triangle. Whatever they're planning to do there, they'll have done it before we've closed two of these rifts you were talking about."

"That's what we told him," Nero said. "He doesn't listen."

"Okay," Marcus groaned. "Trish, would you mind telling me the actual plan?"

"Yeah," Trish said. "Dante and Nero are going to the Bermuda Triangle to stop Mundus and the Savior. The rest of us are going to close the rifts as quickly as we can until we draw out Vergil."

"I might have another idea for that part," Kat said. "Vergil tends to respond to challenges by walking into them. His method of dealing with traps is to spring them and beat whatever wants him dead. It's how he and Dante fought Samael."

"So, what, we set a trap?" Nero asked.

"No," Marcus said. "You and Dante are still going to Bermuda. While you do, we'll work on sealing rifts. Each time we do, we'll let one devil survive to take a message to Vergil."

"What message?" Trish asked.

"I'm waiting for him in London," Marcus said.

"That's the biggest rift," Nero said. "There are at least five Class Twos there, and an army of Class Threes."

"Okay," Marcus nodded. "I'll deal with them."

"You'll be torn apart," Nero said.

"Don't drag me down to your level," Marcus snarled. "I'm not too afraid of my own power to use it the way it should be. And don't think I've forgiven you for trying to make me abandon Kat in the Demon World. I'm going to go to London, I'm going to slaughter the devils there, and I'm going to seal that rift. Then, when Vergil shows up, I'm going to tear him limb from limb."

"I'm going with you," Kat said.

"No," Marcus said. "I'm going alone."

"You'll die alone," Kat said. "I can't lose you."

Marcus grit his teeth, biting back what he wanted to say. He took a long breath before speaking.

"I'm going to fight Vergil alone, because anyone else who fights him will die," Marcus said. "I'm not losing any of my family, and I'm especially not losing you. I'll deal with London myself. Once each of you seals a rift, move on to the next. Kat, you'll be going with Trish."

"I'll be with you," Kat argued.

"It's not open for discussion!" Marcus snapped.

"You're right!" Kat agreed. "I'm going to London with you! I can't lose you any more than you are willing to lose me! I don't care what you say about it, I'm coming with you!"

He stared at her in silence before sighing, smiling in spite of himself. "Alright. Okay. Fine. You'll come with me. Lucia, Trish, Lady, you three try to handle the smaller ones, together if you need to, but be quick about it."

"We will," Trish nodded. "Be careful with London."

"How many total rifts are there currently?" Marcus asked.

"Five, not including London or here," Nero said. "There's New York, Moscow, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Paris."

"All major cities," Marcus said. "No point asking what his motive is. Okay. New York is on the way to London, so Kat and I will hit that one. Trish, you take Tokyo and Shanghai. Lucia, Moscow. Lady, Paris is yours. Anyone who finishes help Trish with her second city."

The others nodded and Marcus turned to Dante and Nero.

"Go," Marcus said. "Now."

"Hold on," Nero said. "Here. I know it's not your type but...I want you to take it. Just in case."

He held out a case and Marcus nodded, accepting the case. Once he had, Dante transformed, picking up Nero and streaking away. Marcus sighed, nodding to the others, the other three taking off. Marcus sighed. He drew Indra and Varuna, handing them to Kat before setting the case down and opening it, pulling out a sword identical to Nero's, except with dark blue where Nero's was red. He placed it against his back and sighed, sitting down against the side of a tent nearby. He rested his face in his hands, sighing.

"Are you okay?" Kat asked.

"No," Marcus said. "A little over a week ago, I was a freak of a college student. Now I'm a devil hunter, fighting a war over the entire planet against an endless flood of demons. I have a family now and I might lose them, and then...there's you. The love of my life. I'm so afraid of losing you that when I thought you left, I snapped. Even if I had died fighting those devils, I didn't care. Without you...I didn't care if I lived or died. I can't lose you, Kat."

"You won't," Kat promised, kneeling in front of him, cupping his face. "I will never leave you. And if you die, I'll come and rescue you from the Devil World again."

Marcus smiled and reached up, kissing her lightly. Then, he sighed as he pushed himself up, looking toward the city where a bloody light was beginning to shine from the streets, devils beginning to fly up from between the buildings.

"Let's get this party started."

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	18. Chapter 18

I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

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War

Damian flew forward, his sword from Dante in his right hand and the one from Nero in his left. As he reached the cloud of Angelos, Hell Scythes, and Hell Vanguards, he began to spin and slash, slaughtering them rapidly, ignoring the odd gash or stab he suffered, all of his strength and energy focused on slaughtering the devils. Some devils moved past him, moving to attack the devil hunter army waiting for them, prepared this time. However, Kat set Pandora up as a Browning M4, firing into the oncoming devils and slaughtering them rapidly.

Damian spun, knocking a lance aside into the rest of the swarm, splitting the Bianco Angelo in half the long way before crossing the blades, the nose of a dragon with what looked like vines and plants making up its body crashing into it. He shoved, redirecting the dragon back into the rest of the devils before spinning, twisting sharply on Blue Queen's handle, the blade glowing red before tearing through the devils. He flipped as the dragon passed under him, jaws snapping closed on multiple devils as it did. He growled in rage, spinning like a saw and shredding devils before tossing both swords straight upward, both spinning in blurred disks. Then, he spun, grabbing the dragon's upper and lower jaw as it tried to eat him.

The dragon stopped instantly before Marcus spun, swinging the dragon around an around through the swarm of devils, scattering them before hurling the dragon down into the ground. It flew up, curing in the air before the head opened into four sections like a flower, revealing a blue-skinned woman's upper body, a pair of flower-petal like things reaching down from the back of her head like ponytails. He reached up, catching Blue Queen and flying downward, twisting the handle several times, steam streaming off of the glowing blade. Then, he reached the woman, slashing her down the front then spinning, slashing her three times before stabbing her, the edge upward. Then, he twisted the handle again, yanking the sword upward out of her body before hurling it skyward again, holding his other hand behind himself in time to catch his other sword, spinning it into a scythe and beginning to tear into the woman before pulling the scythe back, spinning it backward back into a sword before stabbing into her heart. Most of the woman's wounds had sealed up just after being received, barring the more recent ones. As soon as his sword was through her, he spun, catching Red Queen again and twisting, spinning and decapitating her.

"Heal from that, bitch," Marcus snarled, watching as the devil began to turn brown, withering.

He wrenched his sword out of her chest before flying back up into the cloud, beginning to shred them again. They swarmed toward him more than before, trying to avenge the dragon woman, who was likely their leader, however, Marcus didn't hold still long enough for them to hit him. He flipped, twisted, spun, and slashed as he shredded his way toward the rift. Few devils passed him, but any that did died anyway as everyone assembled with Kat slaughtered them.

Finally, Marcus dropped into the parking lot of a strip mall, watching devils stream out of a large, glowing red chasm in the center. And standing beside the chasm was a member of the Order of the Sword, except that his abdomen was stained with blood from what looked like five small stab wounds, and his skin had turned black, with glowing red cracks around his glowing red eyes. He roared, charging toward Marcus.

"What the hell are you?" Marcus asked, then shrugged, deflecting the corrupted devil hunter's first slash, then his second, then his third.

As he spun around the fourth, he slashed, splitting the man's back open and hurling him. However, almost as soon as the man hit the ground, he began to stand again, roaring yet again. This time, another roar answered. Then another. And another. Then four more. Marcus turned, watching as corpses, Devil Hunters, military, and civilian, began to climb out of the rift, bearing a massive assortment of melee weapons, some human-made, some Devil Arms. Marcus was just glad there were no guns. He charged, swords held out to his sides, and began to tear into the corpses. He split one in half completely across the chest with his sword, while using Blue Queen to block a saw-toothed sword from his left. He shoved that blade away and spun, slashing in a wide circle and bisecting that corpse, along with three more. Then, he turned, twisting sharply on Blue Queen's handle and slashed upward, the glowing blade tearing through the first corpse and splitting it in half the long way.

Then, Marcus allowed Blue Queen to sail into the air and spun his other sword into a scythe, pivoting and beginning to propeller his scythe as he walked forward, shredding corpses on his way to the rift. Just as he was nearing it, a sword blocked his scythe and he leapt backward as a second passed under him. He spun his scythe backward into its sword form and landed beside Blue Queen, pulling it free of the ground and resting it on his shoulder. Before him stood a pair of corpses wearing what looked like Greek battle armor, the pair wielding a pair of cleavers made of bone and radiating demonic power. Marcus lunged, slashing from both sides, but the two blocked his swords before both planting a foot in his chest, hurling him backward. He flipped, landing on his feet and formed his spectral arm, slashing from the right, only for one of the two to slash upward, deflecting the spectral sword over them as the other charged. Marcus grinned, moving to meet his charge, his two words beginning to clash with the corpse's in a shower of sparks. Finally, he ducked, spinning around the corpse, only to cross his swords as the other's blade crashed into his, hurling him away with the force. He flipped, landing on his feet and glared at the two as they turned toward him again.

"So, you're both high twos, then," Marcus mused. "Not bad. Okay. Time to die!"

He charged again, slashing at the first while twisting sharply on Blue Queen's hilt, slashing the ground beside him as the first blocked his sword. Blue Queen ripped the ground apart, hurling massive chunks of stone at the second, knocking it back before Marcus spun, slashing at the first from the side. The corpse flipped over the blade and slashed downward at Marcus, but he blocked it, shoving the sword upward and slashing back the other way with Blue Queen, the corpse stepping back out of the way. Marcus stabbed the sword into the ground and gripped his with both of his own hands, blocking the corpse's sword with his remaining sword. Suddenly, the other corpse leapt into the air, shrieking deafeningly as black flames rolled off of its sword. However, before it could strike, Kat leapt into the air, flipping and planting both feet in its face, her panther-themed boots flashing blindingly and sending the corpse crashing down beside the rift. Kat landed on her feet behind the corpse Marcus was struggling with and spun, slamming a windmill kick into its side, sending it bouncing away. Marcus sighed, pulling Blue Queen free of the ground again and placing it against his back.

"Thanks," Marcus said. "Now what the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"Helping the man I love," Kat said. "Do you know how to seal rifts?"

"I was assuming it'd close after these two die," Marcus said.

"No a chance," Kat said. "This is why I'm here."

The two corpses stood and Marcus growled, readying himself as Kat did the same. Marcus stepped in front of Kat, deflecting one sword into the ground and Kat stepped around him, drilling a punch into the corpse's gut, launching it before Marcus slipped under the other's slash and split him in half diagonally across the torso. He spun instantly, blocking the other's slash and went skidding backward a dozen feet before Kat flipped into the air over the corpse, right boot shining and she slammed an axe kick down on it, crushing it flat and cratering the ground. Marcus blinked in surprise before grinning.

"Impressive," Marcus said. "Alright. I'll admit. You can actually fight."

Kat smiled, walking forward and pulling a red can of spray paint and shook it for a moment before popping the cap off. Then, she walked around the rift, spraying the paint along the edge of the rift. As soon as she had encircled it entirely, the paint shone and came alive, strings of it rising as tentacles and lashed outward, tangling with each other, looking like loose stitches, then pulled, tightening and stitching the rift closed like a wound. Marcus blinked in surprise, then looked to Kat as she put the paint away.

"That was surprisingly easy," Marcus said.

"When you live in the demon world for sixty years, you pick up a few things," Kat said. "Marcus...about this morning-"

Marcus cut her off with a kiss, Kat sighing and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I don't care about that. I was just afraid I'd lost you."

Kat smiled. "Never."

Marcus nodded and pulled her nephilim crystal out of his pocket, slipping it over her head. "Try not to scare me like that again."

"I won't," Kat promised.

Marcus nodded and kissed her again before they turned, heading back toward the Devil Hunter Camp.

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